I Can't Stay
by SheWhomLaughsLast
Summary: Sequel to I'll Be Here. Lauren survived the manticore, but the means of her survival come at a price. As the team looks to find ways for her to cope, she's left to wonder: would it be better to leave than to risk hurting the one person she loves the most?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_**Lauren**_

"How've things been?" Amelia asked as her and I sat on the couch of Bo's place. Bo agreed to let Amelia stay for the time she was in town. I sipped my wine, leaning my head on my hand, elbow resting on the back of the couch. "It's been a while since I last saw you and didn't get a chance to ask when I was busy saving your ass." I laughed, nearly spitting the sweet wine out. Amelia's personality was infectious. If she smiled, you smiled. If she was sad, you were sad too. I don't know exactly how she and I were so close after only two encounters, but it felt as though I'd known her forever. Maybe it was the whole saving each other thing. She set her own glass down on the coffee table, pulling her hair back from her face in a ponytail.

"It's been…interesting, to say the least."

"You look tired."

"I _feel_ tired."

"Wouldn't have anything to do with that lovely succubus, would it?" I rolled my eyes at the teasing sound to her voice, pulling my sweater around me tighter. "Hey, I wouldn't blame you, that fae is _everybody's _type."

"You're rather nosey for a wise medicinal healer, you know that?" She gave me her signature smirk and sipped from her glass.

"No matter how 'wise' I am, I'm always going to be a dog at heart." I shook my head "spill! Doctor! Tell me all your dirty human secrets."

"No. Nothing's happened between Bo and I since…"

"You got in her pants because it was 'the will of the Ash'?" She put air quotes around the last part of the sentence and I winced. She sighed and took another sip. "What happened to not compromising your morals because of who owns you?"

"I didn't compromise my morals."

"Ah, yeah you did. You slept with her because some tight ass guy told you to. Unless…" she narrowed her eyes at me, scrutinizing. She sniffed the air and her eyes widened with surprise. "Noooo way! You're—"

"I'm nothing with Bo. Well…maybe not _nothing _but…I haven't exactly had a chance to go over this yet." I cut her off. She rolled her eyes

"Yeah, whole near death-thing can _really _eat up your time." She said, rubbing her eyes.

"How're your children?" Amelia looked at me and cocked her head in thought.

"They're fine, they're with their father, Nicolai, back home."

"I'm glad." She looked at me closely as I put my empty glass down.

"How've you been feeling since you woke up?" She asked suddenly, a curious expression on her face, eyebrows knitting together. I rolled my neck.

"Exhausted, mostly."

"No aches or pains, no unusual behavior?"

"Not really." I narrowed my eyes "Why?"

"Doctors are supposed to follow up with patients, you know that."

"I mean, what did you do to bring me back?" The door opened and in walked Bo and Kenzi.

"Lauren! We found out where—" They both stopped when they saw Amelia and I. Bo cleared her throat and started again. "We found out where the manticore came from. A human on the edge of town set up a breeding pit of some kind, selling them to anyone who can afford them. Dyson figures we hit it hard and take the breeder by surprise, we can figure out who he sold the one that attacked you to."

"Dyson." Amelia scoffed, standing up and stretching, rolling her neck. Bo narrowed her eyes "Let's hit it."

"Are you sure it's a good idea, Amelia?" Bo asked, a standoffish edge to her voice. "What about your kids?" She laughed quietly.

"Sweetie," The tall blonde said, trailing her fingers over Bo's collar bone as she circled her. "I've fought in more battles than you've boinked people. I can handle a human and a pack of manticore." She brushed off the brunette's shoulder before breezing around Kenzi. "Get dress, Doctor, dearest. We're going to kick ass." She disappeared into her makeshift room and shut the door. Kenzi plopped down on the couch, muttering about the human comment. I stood up to greet Bo.

"Wow, that Amelia..." I smirked.

"You're not jealous, are you?" She looked shocked.

"Jealous? Me? Why would I be jealous that some super hot wolf shifter is…alone…with you…Should I be jealous?" I shook my head and brushed my fingers over her cheek bone.

"No." She smiled "now do you know how I feel when I see you and Dyson?"

"Oh please, Dyson and I…" she hung her head "yeah, yeah I guess so." I laughed and pulled my sweater off, making to exchange it with my brown leather jacket. Bo's hand stopped me, her hand resting on my forearm then moving to the long lines stretching across my chest.

"It's still amazing you healed this fast, it only happened, what? A four days ago?" I shrugged.

"Amelia's use of herbs is astounding, the fact that she could stop my bleeding without the use of technology…" I smoothed Bo's furrowed brows with my thumb. "The point is I'm here now. And I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Good. Now, sit down and we'll be back." Oh, what the hell?

"No way. That manticore nearly killed me. I want to give its creator a piece of my mind." She sighed

"Lauren. You just promised me you weren't going anywhere."

"I meant metaphorically speaking, I am, however, going to go kick ass." With that, I zipped up my jacket and brushed past her, hearing her remorseful humph and shoes following me towards the door.

_**Bo**_

"Alright, everyone know the plan?" The group nodded, and by group I mean Dyson, Amelia, Lauren and I with Kenzi waiting in the car. We were standing just outside the warehouse, waiting for my signal. Dyson and Amelia would take on any manticore coming at us and I would go for the guy running it. Once we had it all under control, Lauren would come in and beat the living hell out of him. Then, we'd deal with the manticore accordingly.

Dyson looked at Amelia "You ready?" the blonde's eyes turned wolf-like, her grin decked out with extended canine teeth.

"Oh please, Puppy-breath," she said, stripping her jacket from her shoulders the same time Dyson did. "I'm nearly a thousand years of ready." And, with that, they took off through the entrance of the warehouse, surprises yelps and snarls met by fierce barks and growls. I turned to Lauren

"You know when to come in, right?"

"When you sound the all clear, I know Bo. You keep yourself safe in there, alright?" I nodded and pulled her in, clutching her in a brief hug before Amelia's distinct howl rang out. But it wasn't the one I'd expected. A chorus of shrieks filled the air and I ran in, met with total chaos.

They were absolutely everywhere.

The manticore had taken over, some with scorpion tails, some with the faces of people, some with wings and others with a complete lion body. Amelia and Dyson fought back to back in a midst of them, tossing them to the side, using sheets of scrap metal to deflect on coming spines. I saw the owner of this hell making a run for the back door and grabbed him.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" I wrenched him back and sat him down on a chair. I touched his cheek and let my succubus voodoo do its job. Soon enough, the familiar dopy smile spread across his face. I turned around just in time to be taken down by a flying lion. A flying-_freaking-_lion!

It pinned me to the floor, nails digging into my shoulders painfully. Her ears pinned back against her head, muzzle so close to my neck I felt her whiskers tickle my skin. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe. Dyson and Amelia were too far away to help me, too overwhelmed to risk losing concentration. I pushed against the giant paws, trying feebly to break free. It was pointless. Her jaws opened, revealing several rows of pointed, interlocking teeth, sharp enough to tear me apart with ease. I held my breath and closed my eyes as the death trap slowly lowered towards my neck, a low rumbling growl echoing from its throat.

"Bo!"

Then, suddenly, the weight was gone, a new roar resounding through the air. I sat up just in time to see Lauren chuck the giant creature through the air like a pillow.

All commotion in the room ceased. Every beast and person stopped, watching as the monster picked itself off from the ground and turned to face Lauren as she stepped in front of me. It growled and crouch the same time Lauren did. When it leapt, she leapt, both of them colliding in midair. I just sat there, watching.

What the hell was going on? How could Lauren be able to tear something that large off of me like it was a stuffed animal? How could she jump at it and manage to knock it on its back? It had to weigh over a ton at the least. This didn't make any sense.

And yet, as the great beast lunged, Lauren countered, grasping its scruff in clawed hands and wrenched it to the side. It recovered mid air, its spin-shooting tail curling up over its back. The quills shot through the air directly at the blonde, embedding in her front. She didn't seem to notice as she charged the creature the same time it leapt at her again. This time, however, Lauren caught it from underneath, fingers slicing cleanly through the large beast's throat. With a heavy, earth shaking thud, the monster laid limp on the ground, leaving Lauren standing there, panting.

"Lauren?" She turned around, hands clenched by her side. I couldn't hold back the gasp that slipped through my lips.

Her eyes were a vibrant red; her canine teeth and the teeth on either side were extended and sharpened, dangerously pointed like the ones on the beast she killed, blood welling from her gums. Her ears had sharpened and somehow folded down against her head. She looked horrifying, like a thing that crawled out of a nightmare.

The air was still when her features turned back and she fell to her knees, chest heaving as she spat blood on the dirt floor. Though in shock, I ran to her, letting her lean on me for support. Her entire frame shook in my arms as she pulled away and looked at her stomach. The quills that had been shot at her were lodged deep within her torso. With me too shocked to stop her and with shaky hands, she reached for them, pulling them out slowly, agonizingly. She held them up at eye level, staring at them bewildered. They were clean. No blood, no nothing.

I lifted her jacket just in time to see the holes heal over within seconds. We both turned to looked at Amelia who held a grave expression on her face, one of guilt and shame. In a voice shaking with both anger and fear, Lauren asked her something I was sure everyone wanted to know.

"What did you do?"

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	2. The Manticore King: Lauren's Pride

**Chapter 2**

_**Lauren**_

I put my face in my hands. This was not happening. How could this happen? How was this even possible. The manticore were laying on the ground all over the warehouse, a sudden placidity seeming to wash over them, though they all kept their eyes on me, watching me, listening to the tone of my voice as I spoke. One cub in particular pushed his head under my hand, rubbing his muzzle into my side before turning around and repeating. Amelia sat across from me, Dyson, Kensi and Bo on either side of her. Bo would've sat next to me, if it hadn't been for the disgruntled and warning snarls she received from the underfae around me.

The Breeder was tied to his chair, placed in the corner until we were ready to deal with him.

"So…let me get this straight." I said, looking at the blonde across from me as she looked at her hands. "You saved me, by bonding my DNA with that…of a manticore?"

"It was the only way I could make your body immune to the poison killing you. I wasn't even sure it'd work."

"Then why do it?" I demanded, just barely registering that the cub had crawled into my lap, his wings brushing the underside of my chin. "Why turn me into some kind of underfae-human hybrid?" Amelia looked genuinely hurt, as if the answer was obvious. Few of the manticore raised their heads.

"I couldn't let you die, Lauren, not if there was the slightest chance I could save you from it." She sighed "once upon a time, you risked everything to save me because it was who you were, what you believed in. I risked my own life to save yours when I knew there was only a slight chance of you living. I broke an unbelievable amount of laws just by doing the ritual." She looked away, around at the beasts "If anything, it explains why the manticore now respect you."

"What do you mean?" Kenzi asked, clutching Bo's arm nervously. Amelia fixed her hair into a ponytail again.

"The enormous thing Lauren killed had been their leader, now under normal circumstances, manticore only travel in families of two adults and cubs. But, after being raised by a human who's as dumb as a block of wood, they've adapted to a pride-like form of social status."

"Well, that's swell and all" Bo said, also casting a nervous glance around the room "but what does that have to do with Lauren?"

"Well, like with lions, should the pride's leader be killed by another lion, that pride becomes his."

"So…Lauren's Mufasa?" Kenzi asked and Amelia looked indecisive for a moment.

"More or less, I suppose."

Now I felt frustrated, the others seemed to sense it and stood up, pacing around us, forming a circle. I was having a mental break down and they were busy talking about some stupid cartoon lions? What the hell!

"Uh, guys?" Bo said looking around her "maybe we should save the in-depth Lion King talk for another time." I felt their eyes on me all at once.

"Sorry." I stood up, gently lowering the cub in my lap to the crate I'd been sitting on. I looked at the man sitting in the corner and slowly walked towards him.

"What about you?" I demanded, hearing everyone else stand up, the padding of paws and shoes following me. "Where do you keep your sale logs?" I asked and he glared up at me, mouth pressed in a tight line.

"Why don't you go fu—" Now, normally violence was something I avoided or left for Bo or Dyson or someone who wasn't me. But right then, I had so much pent up anger I grabbed the front of his shirt and heaved him into the air, chair and all. The manticore erupted with intimidating roars that seemed to shake the entire building. I felt several hands trying to make me let him go, each failing to get a firm grip until Dyson managed to spin me around, making me drop the breeder back to the floor.

"Lauren, calm down." He cautioned and I planted my boot firmly in the centre of his chest, kicking him so hard he flew back, skidding in the dirt and into the middle of the underfae around us. And that's when I felt it happening again. The pulsing in the back of my head that slowly began to fill the rest of my body. The burning that began in my gums as my teeth sharpened and extended, the sharpening of my vision as my eyes changed. Dyson's own fangs extended, his eyes taking on the odd yellow colour they did when he shifted. My skin prickled with bumps that felt like goose bumps, but deep within I knew they were something more. Something I just couldn't figure out how to use yet. I took a step towards him, but, before I could do anything, Bo was in front of me, her hands cupping my face.

I looked at her, felt her hands gently caress my cheeks, her soft words reaching my ears but my mind couldn't register what she said. Suddenly, I found myself wanting to know and the pulsing slowly begin to ebb from my body. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, wrapping my fingers loosely around her wrists, concentrating on my heart and my air intake.

"You're ok, Lauren." Bo's voice said softly, brushing the scattered hair from my face. "You're ok, you just need to relax a little bit. Go and sit down, I'll see what I can get out of the moron taped to the chair, alright?" I nodded and she kissed my forehead.

"Actually," I said, stepping away from her "I think I need to be alone right now, I'll meet you at home." I moved to leave and every single beast in the room moved to follow me. I stopped and turned to see them all staring at me, eyes bright and questioning, heads tilted when I sighed in frustration.

"Oh boy," Kenzi murmured "I don't think we can handle this many 'they followed me home' underfae." I took a step backwards towards the door and they matched me. They were like soldiers. Soldiers that refused to go anywhere I wasn't.

"They're waiting for you to lead them to a new territory now that their old leader is dead." Amelia murmured quietly. I glanced over at the large carcass and stared disbelievingly at the ceiling.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Bo rubbed her temples

"I have an idea, but you probably won't like it."

Great, just great.

+/+\+

I was laying on the ground of the warehouse looking up at the ceiling. Bo had offered to take the breeder elsewhere for interrogation so I could rest with my new group of…I didn't know what they were in relation to me. Pets? Family? I didn't even know what _I _was.

By nature, I was a freak. I was part human and part something that ate humans. I was partially underfae, something that baffled me. I needed to be away from everyone else. I needed to think without being asked if I was ok or having to hear the concerned whispers of my friends. Only the breathing of the manticore around me was all I could tolerate.

Soft, yet somehow clumsy, padding of paws came towards me. I turned my head to the side and saw the same cub from earlier, his large paws causing him to stumble as he made his way to me. His brilliantly blue eyes almost seemed to glow in the dark of the room as he weaved in and out of scattered sleeping bodies, his muzzle twitching as he grumbled mewling noises.

"What is up with you?" I asked, lifting him up when he got close enough, holding him above me. His nails gently scratched my wrists though his fur was soft in my hands. His tail wrapped around my forearm as he looked down at me, head cocked, big eyes adorable. "You don't have a name, do you?" He sneezed. "Well…" I said, examining him closely.. "I guess if I'm Mufasa…you'd be Simba." He licked his nose, eyes crossing as he tried to see his tongue. I couldn't help but laugh. I set him down on my stomach, scratching behind his ears in absent thought. He curled up, a low purr rumbling from his tiny chest, vibrating against my stomach. I sighed "I'm in a bit of a pickle, Simba." He 'merowumph' and extended one paw higher up to the arrow of my rib cage. "On one hand, I'm alive, feeling as good as I could be after nearly dying." I unconsciously stroked his head, But, on the other hand, I'm now some kind of human-fae hybrid which makes me neither human _or _fae…" I sighed slowly as a tsunami of emotions swept over me, forcing a tear from my eye.

I closed my eyes, jumping when I felt the muzzle of a closer manticore poke me in the neck, then heavy head stretched over my thigh, neck arching over my muscle, nose pressed firmly against my opposite knee cap. They all seemed to be shuffling closer and closer to me until I was surrounded by them, their bodies warm and, oddly enough, comforting in my moment of distress. I ran my finger tips through the whiskers of a muzzle closest to my face, admiring the way the lips pulled back, exposing the dangerous razors sheathed beneath the soft skin.

It's hard to describe it, really. Perhaps it was the beast's DNA that created the placid feeling flooding me, but when they were there, their body heat keeping me warm despite the freezing temperature, I felt like I was home in a weird sense.

My eyes slowly sagged back closed, sudden exhaustion and comfort making me slowly lull to sleep with the cub on my chest, tiny claws pinching my skin and my new found family around me.

Finally, in so many years, I felt safe.

Finally, I slept without fear.

Without nightmares.

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	3. Beauty and the non Beast

**Chapter 3**

_**Lauren**_

The slight growls of the beasts around me made me aware of the presence of another being in the room. "Stop it." Dyson's voice filtered through the air. I had ransacked my old lab last night, taking major pieces of equipment to the ware house so I could start synthesizing a suppressant to help calm the more…animalistic side of me. The part I couldn't quite understand at the moment. The manticore grew more aggressive, some snarling at the intruder. "Lauren, please call off your dogs."

"They aren't 'dogs'." I muttered, turning from the machine I sat at and shushing the underfae with a simple "hush" and moving across the room. "However, what does the more annoying of the only two dogs I know want?" I asked, breezing past him, hearing Simba following after me.

"Checking in." he said simply and I barked a laugh.

"If you're 'checking in' I'm the Ash of the Dark Fae."

"Well, you're the only human I've ever met who also happens to be the leader of a rather hostile pack of underfae."

"They're not hostile." I said, setting down the vials I carried and putting them one by one into the testing machine. I turned to face the shifter.

"What? They just don't like having wolves around?" He asked, trying to make light of things. Simba jumped onto the counter then climbed up my arm, resting on my shoulder.

"No. They saw me kick the crap out of you and know I really don't like having you here."

"First off, I came here to make amends, secondly, you only got me because you caught me by surprise."

"If you're trying to provoke me into fighting you, it won't work. Besides, the pride will pump you full of quills before you can even think about—" the scent caught me off guard, stopped me midsentence. It was light, sweet like honey yet warm like vanilla. A scent that often made my heart flutter and my lungs inhale greedily. It was _her _scent. Bo's scent. One of her favourite perfumes.

But this time, this time the scent was mixed with the musky scent of the forest, of animal. A strum of sudden anger swelled in my chest.

_His _scent.

She was all over him.

Her smell was mixed with his.

Just faintly did I hear the sound of Simba hissing by my ear, ears flat against his head.

"You smell like Bo." I said simply, though the underlying tones to my words weren't well hidden. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, well, she got in a bit of a jam last night with the breeder. Needed healing." He shrugged as if it was no big deal. And I didn't understand where my sudden aggression came from, but it came fast and hard, knocking the air from my lungs and forcing my body to tense painfully. He thought it was no big deal that he had screwed the woman who I was trying so desperately to repair my relationship with. That he was with her when she needed help.

"She could've come here." I growled he walked towards me

"Lauren, it was no big deal. She just thought—" I snapped and knocked him flat on his ass as the heel of my palm connected with his chest. He slid through the dirt, the manticore moving away from him, the cub leapt from my shoulder. He quickly got to his feet, his eyes taking on the wolf look as his teeth extended. I changed the same time he did, tasting the salty copper envelope my mouth as my teeth elongated.

Dyson and I had begun to build a bridge over the gap left between us, especially the canyon left by our fighting over Bo, but now it seemed he'd strapped TNT to it and I was leaning on the detonator. Truth be told, it wasn't his fault. The fusion of DNA seemed to have ramped up my aggression levels and shortened my temper. He just brought up the wrong thing at the wrong time. That _and _he neglected to have to courtesy to at least bathe before walking into my temporary dwelling.

"Don't you _dare _make this seem like nothing!" I snarled, advancing on him the same time he advanced on me. "You come in here, absolutely dripping her scent and you think it's nothing?" We ended up nose to nose, his teeth bared, and my eyes glaring into his.

"She needed me and I was there for her!" Oh, so he wanted to make this even more personal that it was, did he? Fine. I'd tear him limb from limb and leave him for the others. I felt the goose bumps prickle on my skin again and I clenched my fists, swinging at Dyson and missing as he dodged backwards. Swung again only to have my legs knocked out from under me. I hit the ground and felt my skin grow taut, like it were being pulled in all different directions. I raised my arms and stopped, my heart dropping.

The skin all along my forearms was covered in quills with the diameters of pencils, extending about two to three inches. I pushed myself up, carefully reaching over my shoulder and feeling the thicker set of spines extending in the pattern of my rib cage and spine. Half-astonished and half-intrigued by the newest development, I stood up, my body returning to its more human state, just as Bo entered the warehouse. She dropped the bags she was carrying to the ground.

"Holy shit! Lauren!" I looked at her then back to my arms, still covered in the quills. Dyson rubbed the back of his neck before grumbling his sudden emergency and making a hasty retreat.

+/+\+

"Sorry." Bo said as I winced when she pulled out yet another quill from my back. She'd brought a large metal bath that looked like one you'd use for a dog and filled with warm water. I sat in it as she used pliers to pluck the uncomfortable spines from my back and drop them into the pale sitting beside her chair. As night fell, she placed and lit candles and oil lamps, giving the large room an almost warm feeling. She had finished most of my back already, though it'd taken a large portion of the night to complete. She poured water over my back gently, her fingers caressing the spot she'd just plucked.

"You don't have to do this, Bo, I can deal with it in the morning."

"and sleep all night with spikes poking out of your back? How 'bout 'no'?"

"You've been at this for over an hour already."

"Yeah, well, there're a _lot _of things here."

"Won't Kenzy be wondering where—"

"Why do you always do that?" she asked abruptly in an annoyed tone, forcing me to look at her. I blinked at the frustrated look on her face.

"Do what?"

"You always push me away when I try to get closer to you." I looked away from her and into the water I sat in, wishing I could just melt away into it.

"No,, I don—"

"Yeah, you do!"

"Bo, please, just drop it."

"Not unless you want me to leave." Damn, damn, damn.

"Because…"

"Because what?"

My eyes stung as she forced me to say something I'd desperately tried not to say or even think about. "I'm scared that I'll do something wrong." I blurted it out and couldn't raise my eyes to hers, but when she didn't say anything, I continued "especially now that I've got this other side of me that I can't control…" I sniffled, watching my hands in the water. "God, Bo, if I hurt you—"

"You wouldn't, Lauren."

"But, if I _did_," I whispered, my voice abandoning me "considering what happened with you and I before," she closed her eyes. Our first night together was a wound I knew would never completely heal, but bringing it up was like dousing it in lemon juice. "Based on how I felt after the first time, I don't think I would be able to live with myself."

"Lauren…"

"Bo, it's ok, alright?" I splashed water in my face to hopeful hide the tears flowing down my cheeks. I was a monster, as creature that could destroy without mercy, without regret. I didn't want Bo at a distance, but, at the same time, I couldn't let her get hurt. "Let's just finish the quill thing and then I'll see you in the morning, ok?" I rinsed my face again and heard her put the pliers down and her boots click against the floor.

She was leaving?

But I told her what she wanted to know.

_Did I scare her?_

My chest contracted painfully at the thought of Bo leaving me at that moment, the tears streaming more steadily down my face. I squeezed my eyes shut and hid them in my hands. Did she see what only I thought I could? Did she see something more vile and dangerous lying underneath my normal looking appearance? Was I lying to myself, filling my head with false hope that Bo and I could be something more again? Even if had only been for a few hours?

I didn't want Bo to leave, but I didn't want to have her blood on my hands if I could protect her. I pulled my knees to my chest, willing myself not to look so weak. So vulnerable.

A soft hand touched my cheek.

"Hey" Bo said softly, moving my face to look at her with little effort. I sniffled, looking at the ground, now completely embarrassed that I'd been crying in front of her. "Lauren," she said, brushing away the drops on my face. "Lauren, look at me." I did as I was told, seeing her warm brown eyes looking into mine as she kneeled beside the tub so she was eye level with me. I let my legs slide back into the water "Before you helped me, I killed people." She said softly, thumbs brushing my cheek bones "I didn't want to, I just wanted love, I just wanted to be able to sleep with someone and not wake up next to a corpse." Of its own accord, my hand gently squeezed her forearm, trying to comfort her. "But, then I met you and you wanted to help me, even though the Ash wouldn't approve. And you did, now I have control over it. Now, I don't have to be a killer." I heard one boot clunk to the ground, quickly followed by the other one.

What the..?

Bo lifted herself, still fully clothed, into the bath tub, straddling my legs, the water reaching up to her waist. She cupped my face gently, pushing my hair back from my face. "I don't want you to feel like a monster, Lauren." She leaned her face in towards me, lips pressing to my own tenderly. I gripped her waist in desperate hands, like she was some hallucination that would disappear if I didn't hold on. The tears streamed more steadily down my face when I realised she wasn't going anywhere. My arms wrapped around her mid section, pulling her closer to me. Her arms wound around my neck as the meaning of our kiss deepened.

_I've missed you_

She held me when our kiss finally broke and I buried my head against her shoulder and cried.

She held me and whispered sweet words of comfort into my ear.

"Shhhh," she said gently, kissing the top of my head, her fingers gently stroking my hair "It's alright, Lauren, I'm not going anywhere, not until you're ready for me to leave."

I didn't say it then, if I could've found my voice I probably would've.

I wasn't ready for Bo to leave.

I never would be.

**Reviews make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside on this cold autumn day.**


	4. the Promise

**So…I'm exceedingly choked about having to wait ANOTHER week for a new episode of Lost Girl because the network couldn't get their shit together. Hope this tides you over though…**

I woke to an empty sleeping bag, one that I'd been sharing with Lauren only a few hours ago. I pulled the large bag around me tightly, looking around the office-like room that was separate from the larger warehouse. I rubbed my eyes and slipped out; grabbing a baggy shirt I brought from Lauren's place and pulled it over my head. Last night had been…amazing

_I felt her arms wrap around me from behind as she crawled back into the sleeping bag with me. "I wish that had been our first time." I said gently, running my fingers up and down her forearms, smiling when I felt her kiss my shoulder and pulled me to her tighter. _

"_In a lot of ways," she said softly, her breath tickling my skin "it was." We were silent for a long time afterwards; I almost thought she'd fallen asleep until she asked "are you ok?" That question confused me. I turned to look at her, saw the concern and worry in her lovely brown eyes and laid my head down on her extended arm. She watched my features closely, watching for any sign that I didn't want to be here or that I was hurt or upset._

"_I'm so much better than ok." I murmured, pushing her hair behind her ear. "I've missed being with you like this." I said softly, she touched her forehead to mine sweetly and I sighed, letting her wrap her arms around me. She didn't say anything again for a long, long while, her fingers trailing up and down my back soothingly. _

The tile floor was cold under my bare feet as I searched for the blonde. Where'd she go?

"Lauren?"

"Up here." Her voice softly floated through the air from the skylight, which I just realised was open. Hesitantly, I grasped the metal ladder extending towards the ceiling and hoisted myself up step by step towards the brisk night sky.

I heaved myself out of the hole and onto the roof, jumping a little when the aluminum's cold surface bit my toes. Lauren was sitting cross legged in the rays of the full moon, her back to me and even then I knew she was meditating. "I didn't mean to wake you up." She said gently as I walked to stand next to her.

"Why are _you _up?" I asked her, pulling my arms around me tight. I hadn't realised it was so damn cold out.

"A lot of reasons." She said, turning back to me, holding her hand out for me to join her. I didn't hesitate to sit in front of her, between her legs, her warm arms wrapping around my midsection, chin resting on my shoulder. "You're cold." She murmured gently, her arms pulling me into her tighter.

"And you're really warm." I said, unconsciously snuggling back into her. She smiled

"Another perk of being a species ambiguous freak. It seems the manticore have an internal temperature like a wolf; their body temperature remains the same so they can survive the cold and the heat without freezing or overheating."I played with the fingers on her left hand, touching them to my lips while I thought, smiling against her finger tips when she kissed my cheek. "You should go back to sleep." She said softly and kissed my temple. I shook my head slightly.

"It's too cold without you, besides…" I looked out at the horizon, seeing the mountains far in the background, the lights of the city shining well below the stars in the sky. "It's a beautiful night."

"Yeah…beautiful…" I felt her eyes on me and turned to look her in the eyes

"Why do I get the feeling you're not talking about the scenery?" She blushed and looked at the sky.

"You know, sometimes I look at the sky and I compare the constellations to the people I know."

"Really?" She nodded and I adjusted myself so I could look up too. "Alright, which one is me?" She smiled, the light of the moon casting on us like a spot light. She pointed towards the big dipper.

"Ursa Major."

"Why a giant spoon?" I asked, genuinely perplexed. She chuckled and shook her head.

"It's not a spoon. It's a bear."

"How is _that _a bear?" She pointed at the handle.

"That's the tail," she moved her hand to the cup part "that's the body."

"Bears don't have long tails."

"Evidently, this one does."

"Yeah, ok crazy-lady. Now how does that remind you of me?" She pointed to the smaller dipper.

"Kenzi is Ursa Minor. The smaller bear, because the Great Bear and the Smaller Bear are always together. Ursa Minor also contains the North Star and Kenzi was a major part of you finding a home." Suddenly, I was in awe. It was true. I was completely interested now. I sat up a little bit more, eyes fixated on the 'bears' in the sky.

"Alright, then which one is Amelia?" She pointed to a spot in the sky, I didn't try to see what she was trying to show me.

"Amelia _and _Dyson are Canes Venatici, the two dogs." I couldn't help but chuckle.

"The two dogs? Really?" She nodded, a faint smile gracing her lips.

"On a leash." Then I lost it and fell to my side, body shaking in spasms of tear wrenching laughs. I gasped for air as my stomach cramped and wiped at my eyes. Once I composed myself I settled back into her arms.

"Which one is you?" I asked, still wiping my eyes. She shrugged.

"I look for people I know. Not myself." The blonde murmured simply. I played with her fingers as she stared up at the sky.

"Are you ever going to forgive her?" She sighed and placed her chin on my shoulder.

"Yes and no."

"Yes and no?"

"I won't forgive her for what she turned me into, making me a half underfae half human hybrid, giving me no classification, making me unacceptable for both the fae and the human world."

"Lauren—"

"But, I _will _forgive herbecause she gave me back my chance at life. My chance with you." I smiled and snuggled in closer to her.

"You know it's all gonna work out, right?" She sighed remorsefully into my hair.

"I _hope _it'll all work out, knowing it as a concrete fact however…" I elbowed her in the ribs forcefully.

"Don't be so pessimistic."

"I'm being realistic, Bo. Being what I am at this very moment makes me illegal. Which means that sooner or later either the Ash or the Morrigan will come for me."

"And they'll..."

"They'll either kill me or take me in for research." I ran my fingers up and down her arms slowly.

"Isn't the Ash supposed to protect you?"

"The old Ash would, this new Ash would rather cage me up and never let me see the sunlight again."

"I'll protect you." I muttered grumpily. It wasn't Lauren's fault this happened to her. It wasn't her fault that the manticore, who apparently had been bought and set free in my home by a Dark Fae I happened to piss off, had nearly killed her. It wasn't her fault that Amelia did something that turned her into what she was. She shouldn't have to suffer for someone else's doing. "We'll _all _will."

"That's a great thought, Bo, and I'm grateful for all that you've done and all you want to do, but this isn't something you can fight." I turned to face her and took her face in my hands.

"Lauren, I want you to listen to me." She rested her hands on my thighs, eyes locked on mine. "No one will touch you, ok? I'll rip their arms off and beat them to death with them if they try." She smiled softly, sadly, but said nothing. "Ok?"

"Ok."

**Reviews make me less sad about yet another hiatus before the first one even ended.**


	5. in Sheep's Clothing

**Sorry for the long delay, NaNoWriMo is the worst thing on the planet. It's like a vampire that just sucks the will to write and all my inspiration out of me and leaves me on the side of the brain-dead highway. And, unfortunately, I can't just quit because it's an assignment for my Writing class. So, basically, I quit, I get a McShit grade or I fail the course. That's not an option, obviously. So, you'll have to forgive me.**

_**Lauren**_

"Ok, let's try something easy." I said to Simba as he sat looking at me, head cocked. "Try saying 'dog'" I told him gently. His vocal cords, as it turned out, were just in the development stage, not damaged or stunted like the others, giving him the best potential to learn to speak. It was inappropriate to treat Simba like a human infant, but I had no other means by which I could teach him to speak. He understood words, I could ask him to do something and he could do it, but forming those words seemed to be difficult.

I sat crossed legged on the floor as the snow fell steadily outside, Simba digging anxiously at the dirt with his long claws.

His lips twitched and a low grumble started in his throat. "Dough" He muttered awkwardly in a voice that very much resembled that of a toddler's, ears falling when he understood he hadn't said the word correctly. I reached my hand out to him and he dragged his feet as he moved towards me.

"Hey," I said gently, rubbing his head "it's alright. You're just learning. It takes practice, but we'll get there." He shook his head sadly. "Why don't we just try it one sound at a time and then we'll put it all together, alright?" He grunted, which I took as passive confirmation. "Duh"

"Duh"

"Aw"

"Aw"

"Guh"

"Guh."

"Dog." I held my breath and waited as a sudden look of concentration passed through his brilliant blue eyes. _Come on, Simba _ I thought, willing him to be able _you can do it! _He inhaled and said with as much effort as I'd ever heard one being put into a single word

"Dog." Shock hit him in the face like a sucker punch. I jumped to my feet, a yowl of victory escaping my lips. The manticore tilted their heads to the ceiling and roared, most seeming far more amused than surprised. I scooped Simba up in my arms and held him in the air above me.

We'd worked on speaking for well over two weeks now. Trying little words like 'to' and 'if' but those didn't seem to be as easy as I had assumed they would be.

"DOG!" He yowled, running around the warehouse, repeating the word over and over again. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Whoa!" Kenzi yelped, just barely dodging the bullet-like cub before he leapt onto her shoulder. "hey buddy." Simba and Kenzi had formed an odd kind of bond over the past month or so. He had 'adopted' her in a way, I suppose. Bo strode in after her, dropping her purse next to the shelf on the far end of the room. She wrapped her arms around my neck and smiled at me.

"Hello." I said softly

"Hi." She purred and Kenzi mimed vomiting

"Come on buddy." She said, walking towards the other end of the room "we don't wanna see them eat each other's faces now do we?" He made a retching noise and I rolled my eyes. Bo chuckled.

"How's teaching Simba to speak been going?"

"Decently." I murmured "We just learned the word—"

"Dog!" the high pitched voice chirped and Bo looked both impressed and baffled at the same time. I chuckled, feeling suddenly a little less preoccupied with the clutter of worried thoughts bouncing around in my head as I pecked her lips.

"That's impressive." She breathed and I pulled her closer to me. She giggled and I smiled.

"So, what can I do for you?" I asked, releasing her and turning back to the testing machine which was scanning my DNA, comparing it to anything it had encountered before. There was a lot of data, so it wasn't surprising it hadn't shown any results in days.

Five days, to be exact.

Son of a bitch.

"Well, actually…" she said, walking up behind me and winding her arms around my midsection. "It's what I can do for _you _that I'm more interested in." Perplexed, I turned to look at her. "I want you to move in with Kensi and I."

"Oh, Bo—" she covered my mouth with her hand, cutting my sentence short.

"Hear me out." She pleaded, only releasing me after I nodded in agreement. "You've been in this ware house for nearly a month now. I don't even know how you've survive this long out here, with them." Disgruntled and slightly offended grunts echoed from around the room. "I'm inviting you to come over to our place, have a decent home cooked meal and sleep in an actual bed, if only for the night."

"Oh!" Kenzie said, appearing again with Simba clinging to her head. "You can only come if your strange, yet completely adorable, cub buddy can come too." Bo rolled her eyes and shot her a look over her shoulder. "What! Have you not seen this little king? He's like puppies, kittens _and_ chocolate all rolled into one little, fuzzy package of cuteness!"

"Who will one day grow up and begin devouring human flesh."

"Don't hate the player, hate the game." Kenzi said nonchalantly, nuzzling her nose against Simba's.

Bo sighed and looked back at me.

"I'll think about it." I said and Bo rolled her eyes again before giving me a cocky smirk.

"I'll be back to get you at six." She pulled my hand to her lips and then out as she left, prolonging the contacts as long as possible. She dragged her human away from the cub as she made her way to the door. It slammed closed after her.

"Oh!" I said, glancing back over my shoulder at her purse on the floor, "Bo!" I called out for her to no avail. "Aw hell." I shrugged, she was coming back anyways. I glanced around the room. Maybe I should pack…

+/+\+

The sound of the door opening made me smile. "Back for your purse?" I called out teasingly, knowing it had to be Bo. I'd spent the hours since she last visited doing more research. I'd discovered some more facts from the data base. Some things I'd have to question Amelia about later.

But I could talk to Bo right now.

I could trust her. I felt it in my blood.

"I've found out more about my situation. It seems the manticore—"

"The manticore?" I stopped dead in my train of thought, my heart halting for an agonizing moment. I turned around slowly and saw the man I didn't want to see.

"Ash…" I breathed as he stepped forward with his goon squad, the manticore rising from their slumbers quickly, facing off against him, growling and snapping teeth.

"I'd heard rumours of a Half running around these parts, never figured it could've been my run away doctor." I silenced the manticore with a glance, causing them all to fall back into a relaxed position. "It's fascinating…truly." I held my breath, leaning back against the metal table behind me. "I've never seen one so…" he walked towards me and touched my hair "up close and personal."I pulled out of his grasp, revolted by him, resisting the urge to tear him to pieces. I could now. I was full capable of taking him out. "The way you can command the beasts with a simple glance—"

"They are not beasts." I blurted, instantly regretting it. It had been a knee jerk reaction, something I hadn't meant to say. These creatures had become like my family, they weren't my first choice, nor was I theirs. But, for whatever reason, I felt like I belonged here more than I had anywhere else. Even when I'd been completely human.

The Ash smiled at me, making me feel sick to my stomach.

"You're rather attatched to the monsters, aren't you?" I looked away from him, now backed up against the cool metal table. "Well, we'll be sure to take extra special care of them when we put them in the Zoo, won't we?" I opened my mouth, a sharp remark armed and ready, when the cold metal of a collar snapped around my neck. I was frozen for only a second before the five chains attached to the inch thick dwarven metal collar suddenly cinched tight, forcing me to stand with my neck fully extended. I gasped as my fingers gripped the chains, the fae holding each were pulling with all their might though trying to keep the weight evenly distributed in order to keep me in one spot.

My eyes burned as they changed, teeth elongating against my will. I let out a snarl as I fought for freedom, as I fought against the unbreakable chains and struggled to get out.

The manticore leapt into action, snarling and snapping at the men, causing them to slowly begin losing focus. I was too preoccupied with controlling the primal side of myself and fighting to make an effort to control them.

Until I heard a pistol click.

Then a shot rang out.

Silence filled the air as the body of one of the younger manticore fell to the ground with a lifeless thud. My heart stopped. I couldn't breathe, there was no air. The manticore let out low whines and retreated, the same feeling of grief I had washing through them too.

"Simba…" I sobbed, my eyes blurring with tears as the Ash lowered the still smoking gun to the ground and slid it back in the holster on his waist. He looked at me, eyes as cold as absolute zero and he smiled.

He _smiled._

I lost it.

My grief was burned away by an all consuming fire of hatred. "Oh," the Ash said, the most disgusting smirk on his face "was that one special?"

I grabbed the chain closest to my hand and pulled, teeth now fully extended, eyes burning like acid as the spines on my arms launched forwards into him, embedding in a clean line from his forehead to his chin, sending him to the ground with a thud. Just like Simba. Lifeless. Dead.

I turned on the next guard, feeling the spines sprouting from my back, jutting out in all directions. With the sound of his breath as he prepared to scream, they shot from me, slaughters in and the other three, making the same sound the first one did when they hit the ground. I turned on the Ash, standing in silent shock in the centre of a warehouse filled with angry animals. We stood there, staring at each other for a long moment, my eyes analyzing everything, ears hearing his heart hammer in his rib cage. He was going to suffer for this.

For everything.

I'd make sure of it.

I crouched down and he took a step back, my lips peeling away from my teeth, every muscle in my body tensing as I waited for the moment to spring.

Then it happened.

He staggered back and tripped, falling towards the ground in what felt like slow motion. I leapt through the air, my fingers curled like claws as I landed on his chest, my feet on his stomach, hands on his shoulders. He stared up at me, a kind of horrified amazement on his face. Though, that look didn't last long. I opened my jaws, preparing to rip his throat open, when the chains attached to my collar pulled taught again, wrenching me off of the Ash with a yowl of outrage.

"Oh no you don't!" Dyson grunted, chains wrapped around his forearms as he pulled against me while I fought to keep forward. Amelia must've joined in because suddenly the almost balanced tug-of-war became an over powering fight I was destined to lose. Still I fought against them, the image of the dead cub fresh in my mind.

Fresh in the minds of all of my pack. They lurched to their feet, letting out fearsome roars that seemed to shake the building as they began circling the shifters trying to restrain me. Their tails curled over their back like scorpions, ready to fire if need be.

"Lauren!" Bo's voice reached my ears, though I still didn't feel the need to turn more acceptable in physical appearance. The Ash pushed himself to his feet, brushing off his blazer and slacks, looking at the dead men around him, each skewered on multiple spines. I snarled and lunged forwards again, beginning to give in to the new animalistic nature that begged to be set free. He killed my cub. He killed my cub and way _happy _about it, the sick bastard.

The roars grew louder, penetrating my very soul, igniting a feeling within me.

_Make him hurt _a fury injected voice urged me on in my mind _make him feel the pain he's inflicted on you time and time again. Now it's his turn to suffer. Now it's his turn to feel helpless_. I dug my fingers into the dirt and pulled hard, hard enough that Amelia and Dyson breathed a quiet 'oh shit' and were dragged along with me.

_Make._

I pulled again, feeling my heart pound hard enough I nearly thought it'd punch a hole through my chest. "Lauren!" I heard Bo cry again, shoving Laughlin towards the door. My eyes followed him, my body sensing prey and acting purely on instinct. "Kenzi, get him out of here!" The blue eyed girl wasted no time, hurrying a shocked Ash out. The rest of the manticore followed me, not touching me but urging me on as they tried to surround Kenzi and the Ash and stop them.

_Him._

With a roar of outrage, I lunged forwards again, this time hard enough that I broke free of Amelia and Dyson's grasp, running on all fours after the human and the leader of the Light Fae. I smelt his fear, his disorientation. I smelt the disgusting cologne he coated himself with and the blood pulsing through his veins. I dodged around the succubus as she made a grab for me, the chains whipping the dirt at my feet. I felt the fur of the others of my pack brush my sides softly as we moved as one after the man who'd killed our youngest.

_Pay._

I leapt through the air, jaw open with teeth ready to tear his limbs off and claws ready to dig into his skin. He was the enemy. He injured one of my cubs in my territory. He had to pay. He had to feel pain. He needed to bleed. I needed him to bleed. To die by my claws.

I would relish every second of it.

Or I would have, had the bite of a dart hit me in the neck only a few feet from my target.

I crashed to the ground violently, skidding on my side through the dirt like a helicopter blade. Suddenly, I couldn't move my limbs. My eye lids grew heavy. The underfae instantly circled me, sitting in a tight perimeter to keep anyone wanting to hurt me out. I let out one, pathetic whine as the succubus made a move towards me, hesitant, however, as the guards let out one, low growl but made no other move to stop her.

The short one, the one with the dart tube stepped into view. When he tried to approach me, the lash of claws stopped him short. They could smell the drugs on the dart on me and on him.

Making him my second least liked being in that room.

He couldn't be trusted. The Fae and humans looked at each other, unsure of what they should do. The tall, blonde woman took a step towards me and received the same greeting the King did. I shuttered slightly as my body tried to fight off the drugs pulsing through my system. A small head nudged my hands, lifting them to drop down his body. I looked at him and couldn't help but grin.

_Simba_

He looked at me, nuzzled his head against my cheek and said "dog" before shaking out his bloodied coat, the bullet hole no longer there and he was very much alive.

Still, the guards around us wouldn't move. I was still weak, viable to attack.

The succubus tried again, reaching her hand forwards hesitantly, in case they tried to attack her. They didn't so much as look at her, but they growled in their chests, eyes focused dead a head. They leaned away from her as she moved a little closer, allowing her to enter the circle, snapping at the King when he tried to follow. They did, however, allow the human to enter as well. She scooped the cub into her arms and hugged him close.

"Don't you _ever, _and I mean _ever, _get shot and die ever again!" she scolded the cub, holding him away so she could look him in the eyes "Do you hear me, Mister!" He nodded slowly, ears against his head as she pulled him into a hug yet again.

The succubus ran her hand over my hairline, brushing it from my face and neck in order to remove the dart stuck just below the collar. I was too tired to hear what anyone was saying. All I know is that two, warm, strong arms slid under me and lifted me the dirt, lips pressing to my forehead quickly as we began to move outside.

**You know, I heard that, in order to save someone who's losing their mind to NaNoWriMo, if they get a lot of reviews, it might help them get through the month of November more or less unscathed.**

**Just a thought though….**


	6. Houdini would be Proud

**Chapter 6**

_**Bo**_

I dabbed at Lauren's forehead in the lower part of the Dal, the chains around her neck impossible to remove. Not that I'd been given _permission _to remove them anyway. Trick had said that it would be better to chain Lauren up given her loss of control in the warehouse. He told me that he had places to which he could secure Lauren in the den area of the Tavern. He said she'd be safe there.

But I knew better.

He was afraid of her. Of the thing that hid just under the surface of her skin. The monster we'd seen come to life not more than four hours ago. In a strange way, I understood what Lauren was now. I always felt like I was fighting this creature that wanted me to feed and wanted me to give into it and do what it wanted.

I'd been raised super religiously. I'd been taught that sex was evil, a thing that the devil taunted us and tempted us with but should only be done when one was married.

I didn't know what I was until puberty hit. I didn't know the monster I had living inside of me until then.

Like Lauren didn't know what beast hid beneath her skin until today.

In a weird way, I felt even closer to her than I had anyone else. It was like someone could know what it felt like to be me every day now. Like someone knew how it felt to second guess everything that you thought in fear that it might lead to something terrible. Something you didn't want to do. So, maybe, just maybe, I felt a little resentment towards the bar keep for treating Lauren the way the Ash had tried to. Like an animal who needed to be chained up.

So, there I sat on the floor of the Dol, Lauren's head resting on my inner thigh as I gently cleaned the dirt from her cheek and neck. Only when I moved to her hands to clean the mud from her finger nails did she wrap her digits around mine firmly, a low grunt coming from her as she opened her eyes slowly, brows furrowed as she looked around the room, obviously wondering where the hell she was.

"Hey." I said, catching her attention. She looked at me with the expression of someone who just woke up from a very long sleep. A very _deep _sleep. One of her hands pulled through her hair, scratching her head groggily. She winced, tucking her head into her chest. I put my hands on her shoulders to keep her from falling forwards as she covered her head. "Whoa, you okay?" She nodded briskly, eyes squeezed shut.

"Yeah. Yeah I'll be fine. I just need an Aspirin big enough for an elephant and I'll be swell. My head feels like someone's trying to punch a hole in it." I ran my finger across her cheek gently.

"You did hit the ground pretty hard after nearly tearing the Ash in half." She gave me a pained smile, telling me she felt it coming back to bite her in the ass as we spoke. "Do you remember much of it?" I asked, feeling embarrassed…or nervous. I couldn't be sure which exactly. "You seemed so…not you." She nodded slowly, allowing me to take her hand again and clean out the grit from under her nails. She was quiet for a while, silently thinking about any number of things.

It was only after I finished her first hand that she spoke again.

"Well, I remember Laughlin showing up at the warehouse, him slapping this collar on me," her hand tapping the heavy metal ring around her neck, I mentally winced. She'd already noticed she was chained to the wall. "That's when things start to get a little fuzzy…I remember him shooting Simba and after that…after that it was pretty much lights out until the warehouse floor came speeding my way." I let go of her hand once it'd been cleaned and rubbed my own hands on my jeans.

"I'm sorry about the collar." I said, looking at my fingers in my lap. "I didn't want to leave it on, but Trick insisted and I told him I didn't want you to feel like an animal, but he assured me—"

"Bo." Lauren said in a polite 'please shut up now' tone, placing her hand over mine and squeezing gently. "I understand." I nodded briskly "but Trick is right in this situation. After what I did in that warehouse, it is definitely safer for everyone if I'm restrained somewhere where I can't hurt anyone if I lose control again."

"I'm glad you see it my way." Both our heads snapped in the direction of the entrance to the Den, when the Ash stood, a slight scratch on his shoulders and hands from falling down. Lauren remained where she was, though her head was bowed. "I had no idea a run in with a Half could be so…educational."

"You want educational?" I asked, suddenly feeling defensive. "'Cause if you go after Lauren again on neutral grounds, I'll teach you a lesson you won't soon forget." The blonde's hand on my arm stopped me from getting up. I looked at her, but her eyes were locked on the Ash.

"Now now, Bo." Laughlin said, leaning against the brick archway. I can't express just how much I'd love to whack that cock smirk right off his lips. "I'm just retrieving a lost pet who ran away from home, something like a lost dog." This time I stood, not even Lauren could stop me. I felt my eyes glow that weird blue they did when I got angry enough, my fists clenched tightly by my side. How dare he say that about Lauren right in front of her!

"If you're planning on leaving this room alive, oh mighty Ass-Hat, You'd better start showing Lauren the respect she diserves."

"Or what? You'll drain my chi?"

"If she doesn't…" Amelia said, coming up behind him, a sarcastically happy smirk on her face "I'll snap your neck and leave you for the manticore to eat. If you'd like, that is." He turned to look back at her

"I'd suggest you watch that pretty mouth of yours, Shifter." The Ash said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You wouldn't want to start a war, would you?"

"Ash, please." Trick said, walking between the goddess-like woman and the Dickhead-like….No, just the dickhead. "This is neutral ground, I don't want anyone fighting here." He looked at Amelia pointedly. She stared back with an almost child-like defiance before she looked up at the ceiling and clapped her hands on her sides before turning on her heel and walking back into the main room, mumbling something about light fae morons as she went.

"I'll pay nice," The Ash said, looking over at Lauren and at the chains around her neck "but I do hope you understand I _will _be taking the human back to my compound tonight." Trick nodded briskly

"Of course."

"Um, excuse me!" I said, amazed at exactly how cold Trick was being. "But doesn't Lauren get a say in all this?"

"Unfortunately not." The Ash said, looking especially interested in my little outburst.

"Why not?"

"Because," Lauren said, still on her knees, looking at her hands "I gave up the right to make my own choices when I swore myself to the old Ash."

"Exactly." The Ash chirped in and I shot him a death glare. "Anyway, by nine o'clock I'll be back with a…new set of men to transport you out of here, dear doctor." He looked at me then back to Lauren "do try to behave yourself this time. I've only got so many disposable assets." He turned around and walked out.

I flopped down beside her again, sitting in silence for a good, long while. The Elephant in the room was getting kind of hard to ignore, especially after that last scene.

"So um…" I began, swallowing nervously "why, exactly did you swear yourself to the Ash in the first place?" She smiled weakly and looked at me, a sweet sadness in her eyes.

"It's a long story. One I promise I will tell you just as soon as I can." I nodded and didn't look at her. "Okay?" I nodded again, only turning to her when her fingers turned my chin gently so I was looking at her.

"Are you really going to go with Laughlin?" She smiled slightly again, eyes focused on my hair. She reached up and pulled out the bobby pin keeping my bangs where they were on the top of my head. Her fingers brushed the hair from my eyes gently.

"I like your hair down…" she mused, the backs of her fingers brushing against my cheek bone. I leaned into her touch. "You look so beautiful." We paused for a moment, caught in each other's eyes. I felt like I was behind held by her though the only place she touch me was my cheek. Like I belonged here, with her, facing one of the scariest things in the world for the both of us…

Maybe I wasn't talking only about the manticore situation…

We leaned in towards each other slowly, our anticipation rising quickly. I heard her breath the same way I was sure she could hear mine. Fast and short.

Maybe there was something more than what I'd originally thought….

As our lips were just centimetres apart, it hit me.

Maybe I—

"Ahem." Trick cleared his throat from where he stood in the doorway, "Sorry to interrupt," I shot him the dirtiest look I could. Why was it that whenever I was about to get something from someone, we were always interrupted? Hot 'n' bothered was _not _a good feeling for me. Especially when I was on the verge of an emotional break through.

Son of a bitch.

"but Bo, we need to see you up here." I rasped my fingers on the ground and Lauren, despite Trick's presence, pulled me towards her and laid her lips against mine for just a fleeting moment. But I still felt a spark when they touched so gently and so briefly.

"Go on." She said, motioning to Trick and his suddenly ridged stance. Jesus, someone was impatient today. " I just want you to know that I'm sorry." I blinked at her.

"Sorry for what?" She ran her fingers down my arm lightly.

"That it has to be this way." I cupped her face gently, feeling Trick's impatience growing by the second.

"The Ash won't hurt you, Lauren, I promise." A tiny twist of her lips appeared on her face, but didn't reach her eyes.

"I know." She turned away, breaking our connection and I stood up. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tossed it to her.

"Here, I think Kenzi added some more games on it." She gave me an amused glance and turned to the phone.

I stood still a moment longer before following the bar keeper up the steps. Dyson was sitting at the table with Amelia, looking down at the drawing scribbled in front of her. They seemed completely perplexed by the scribbled scene in front of them. It looked like a bunch of people fighting, some black silhouettes, others just white outlines of bodies. I narrowed my eyes at it.

"What the hell is that?"

"Amelia, though being a shifter," Dyson said, turning the picture so he could look at it. "She's also a Seer."

"A Seer?"

"She can see into the future, some fae call it a disease, its uncontrollable, a condition that effects the mind and the soul and places them in a different time, different place…"

"So what's with the scribbles?"

"Seers have a tendency to sketch what they're seeing as they see it because their bodies are trying to keep in touch with their soul."

"And Amelia just sucks at drawing." Dyson added, only to grunt in pain as the blonde kicked him under the table.

"then what does this mean?" I asked, and Amelia sighed.

"it means the shit is about to hit the fan." Her blue eyes turned on me and she shook her head. "A war between the light fae and the dark fae is well on its way." I narrowed my eyes in thought.

"What could bring about another war?" I asked and Amelia pushed that picture out of the way, pulling out a picture below it and handing it over to me. It was a black silhouettes that took up nearly half the page, below it was the white space in the shape of an angel, wings extending past the page borders and finished on the wooden surface of the table. "An angel?" Everyone looked at each other, uncertainty obvious on their faces. "You're telling me an angel and a black blob is going to bring about another war?"

"We can't be sure what that is." Dyson said, tapping his finger on the paper.

"Maybe this" I pointed to the angel picture "Has absolutely nothing to do with this one." I moved back to the war picture.

"Once again we can't be sure." I rolled my eyes with exasperation. Sometimes it was like I was the only one not paranoid over things that didn't make sense. I shook my head and sighed.

This was just great. Like I didn't have enough on my plate already?

I had to lift Lauren off the floor after she'd been tranqed and carry her through the snow drift after a traumatized Ash-hole and load her into the back of my car. The entire time I'd been carrying her, she kept making these small whimpering noises, like she was hurt or afraid.

It broke my heart to see her so vulnerable. So incapable of even forming words. Especially when you took into consideration just how unstoppable Lauren had been a few minutes prior.

Now I had to worry about her being chained up and imprisoned for the rest of her life under the thumb of the Ash who'd love to have her in his own personal zoo forever. I shuddered.

_Oh, really God? You've got yet _another _mountain of shit to throw at me? No, really I can take it. Really, don't worry about my sanity, just keep piling on the crap._

I hate life.

Like, a lot.

"I don't think it's what we need to worry about right this second." I said, turning back towards the den "if you don't mind, I'd like to spend what little time I have left with Lauren, _with _Lauren." There was no objections so I kept going, taking the stairs down one at a time. "Hey" I called out "beat any high…" I was met by an empty room "scores?"

A small curse slipped through my lips when I saw the collar on the floor of the den, my bobby pin laying next to it. "Trick!" I yelled, panic seeping into my voice. Three sets of footsteps hammered down the stairs as I picked up my phone from the coffee table and turned back to them

"Bo, what is it?"

"It's Lauren." I said, looking at the screen of my phone, realising that there had been a message left for everyone on it. "She says 'I'm sorry it had to be like this. You're all so incredibly kind for trying to help me, but I couldn't put you in danger any longer. It's clear that I've begun to lose control over myself, and, that being said, I've left, not just for the safety of all of you but for my own. The Ash would do things to me that I can't even fathom, nor would I want to. It's better this way, believe me. I hope you all know that I care for you a great deal. Lauren.'" I looked up at the group of people, all of them with an equally sombre look on their faces. We all knew that if we went after her, however she'd managed to get out of this place without anyone noticing, we could catch her.

I just don't think anyone wanted to.

She was right, it was safer for her this way.

But it didn't make it any easier.

I sat in the chair nearest to me and put my head in my hands, wishing I could've caught her as she was making her escape.

Wishing I could've asked to go with her.

**Reviews are happy happy fun times.**


	7. Ding Dong the Dick is Dead

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

_**Bo**_

"Bo! Damn it Bo! Heal already!" Kenzi yelled at me as we walked back into our house. I threw my jacket up against the wall, stalking straight into the kitchen. I turned on the tap and scooped water into my hands, splashing it in my face to wash off the blood from my skin. "We can find you a nice dude who'll be more than willing to give you all the chi you need!"

"Shut up, Kenzi!" I snapped wincing when my fingers brushed against an open cut.

It had been two weeks since Lauren left and since then I hadn't been feeling very much like doing any kind of succubus upkeep. I just found myself suddenly repulsed by what I was again. So that meant no healing and no feeding.

So having my face battered by a client's angry ogre of a boyfriend didn't really help me out much.

"Bo!" Kenzi said, leaning against the counter beside the sink. She took a second to collect herself, her eyes locked on me. I wiped my face roughly with a paper towel and winced when I tugged on the skin. I knew I split my lip and had at least one cut on my right cheek bone and a black eye, but I was alive. That was good enough. "Bo, I know you don't want me to ask this, but is your sudden decision to be a fae punching bag because of the blonde who pulled a Houdini disappearing act recently?"

"It has nothing to do with Lauren." I lied, looking at my best friend as I tossed away the soggy paper in my hand. She didn't believe me, giving me the 'you suck at lying' look. I turned away from her and stalked towards the front room.

"I know she hurt you, but that's no reason to—" I whirled on her then, all the emotions I'd felt for a fortnight came welling to the surface. Kenzi stopped and looked into my eyes, surprised at the emotions stirring within them.

Anger, lots and lots of anger.

But also grief.

And pain.

"No, you don't know." I snarled, fists balled by my sides, tears running down my cheeks and stinging my wounds. "You don't know how she hurt me."

"She did it to protect all of us and even though she didn't say it, you can bet it was especially more about you."

"All the people in my life, everyone who has ever cared about me, everyone who has just wanted to protect me, all of them end up hurting me in one way or the other!" I yelled, losing control over the feelings I'd tried to hold in for a while now. I didn't care anymore.

Lauren was gone now. I had to accept that much at the very least.

I didn't want to.

I really, _really _didn't want to.

"First with my parents and not telling me who I was, then with Dyson giving away his love for me and now Lauren…."

"Running off to protect you from herself." Kenzi finished my sentence for me "but Bo, it was the right choice for her to make. We saw what she did to several ox-like Fae guards in a blink of an eye, there's no telling what she could've done to you if she lost it while you two were together, especially if you two were in the middle of something being as intimate as you two were."

Since the manticore attack, I'd been terrified of losing Lauren. I'd been afraid for a long time that she would die because of what happened and there would be nothing I could do to stop it. But, when Amelia came and saved her, it was the best thing to ever happen. Lauren was alive, I could kiss her, hug her, _feel _her again. She was there.

But now? Now there was nothing left but the text message in my phone, and few memories that seemed blurry. Like I was trying to watch a video I recorded in HD and all the play back I got was in regular definition.

Her clothes were still here, some things she left over after she ran from the Ash in the first place. Like her lab coat and a few blouses. I didn't know what to do with them, but I definitely couldn't bring myself to throwing them away. It felt like she would come back and ask for them again. Like she would need them. But I knew she wouldn't.

She was on the run from the Ash and every single fae, maybe even human, who knew what she was.

Which included me.

I stared at Kenzi for a moment, glaring at her, hating her for being logical. So, I grabbed my jacket and walked past her, out the door and into the brisk night air.

I was going to do what everyone had done once in a while.

I was going to drown my troubles in a drink.

Or twenty.

+/+\+

I sat at the bar of some run down bar, unable to manage the courage to go to the Dal. Trick would ask me how I was, I would tell him I was fine and he'd ask me how I _really _was.

I couldn't have that conversation tonight.

Or any time in the near future.

I sipped the shot of tequila in front of me, not feeling much like drinking now that I'd gotten here. The liquor burned my raw throat and stung my busted lip. In reality, I just needed somewhere to go. Somewhere where no one knew me.

I looked at my phone, scrolling through until I found Lauren's note. I sighed and read it again and again, leaning my head on my fist. My phone beeped twice, a pop up message altering me to the fact that I had at least nine messages in my voice mail.

"Great." I muttered, downing the last of my drink and waving for another one. "Just what I need, more things to deal with." Still, I called my voicemail and waited for the machine to guide me to my messages.

"First message from—"

"Yo mama" my best friend's voice chimed in the awkward pause. I deleted it. I'd gotten that message a week ago and meant to delete it. It was just Kenzi asking what kind of pizza I wanted that night.

I waded through the next two messages without a care, it was just telemarketers telling me to call them back and receive twenty percent off my cable bill. Little did they know I just hijacked the cable. It cost far less. Well, it was free.

"Fourth message from—"

"Me." I froze as my heart did. That voice punched a hole through me and made my chest contract painfully.

_Lauren_

The machine informed me that she'd called a week after she disappeared. I put my drink down, plugging my free ear and holding the phone tightly against the other.

"Bo." Her voice said softly into the receiver, the wind howled in the background. "I know I shouldn't have called after everything. I just felt terrible for what I did and I needed to explain. But I had to get far, far away from you and everyone else before I could." She was quiet for a while, but I waited. I could hear her breathing heavily, almost silenced by the wind. I downed the shot in front of me quickly, tossing enough money on the counter to pay for the three drinks I had and two more, not bothered to pay with exact amounts of money.

I stood up and walked out, wanting to be able to hear the blonde properly without the noise of club.

"I know I hurt you. But I had more reasons than just what I wrote as to why I had to leave." I leaned up against the wall of the club, listening to the choppy recording. "I can't stay, Bo. I know you'll try to find me, you'll see if Dyson can trace the call, but I can't stay there with you. Not now." A small sob passed through the ear piece. "Oh God Bo, after what I've done…if I had done something to you…if I had hurt you…I don't think I could…I couldn't live with myself." I shook my head, biting back the tears that stung my eyes. "I've lost control, Bo, the thing inside of me is taking over. It's changing me in ways no one could've seen coming, both physically and mentally, and I can't push it back anymore, I don't have the strength." She was crying like I was, crying out the pain of a broken heart over the phone to a machine that didn't give a damn. "I had to put as much distance between us before I disappeared completely."

If only I'd been near my phone. If only I'd not decided to complete ignore any and all calls, I might have had a proper goodbye.

I might have been able to tell Lauren that I loved her.

"I'm so, so sorry, Bo. I can't even describe the agony I'm going through just knowing you'll blame yourself for this. But you have to know that you've made my life worth living since the day I met you. And I know you'll get through it." I touched the locket around my neck, remembering when she gave it to me. "I just…I can never come back, Bo. Not now. Not ever." I slid down the wall until I sat on the ground, my free hand covering my mouth as my heart broke in my chest.

"I'd give anything to see you again." She said softly, her voice weak. "But I have to go now." She whispered "I've got to get moving." She paused again and I held my breath. "I'm sorry. Good bye, my beautiful Callisto. Take care of everyone for me, yourself especially." The line went dead and I exited, leaning my head against the building in the empty street, feeling the tears leaking out my eyes and rolling down my cheeks. I swallowed hard and got up.

I had things to do now.

Grieving could wait.

+/+\+

I pushed open the door to the hideout, hanging my jacket up and taking a deep breath. I was going to apologise to Kenzi for being a real bitch earlier. She didn't deserve to be treated the way I'd treated her. She was trying to help me deal, which I didn't quite get earlier. But I was back to apologise, never the less.

I could do that much.

"Kenzi," I said, walking inside and into the front room. "Kenz I just wanted to say—" I froze and narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Dyson?"

Dyson, Hale, Trick and Amelia were sitting with my human in the front room, all of them with a look of huge concern on their faces, Simba sitting in Kenzi's lap. We'd taken him in after Lauren disappeared, figured it was for the better. Dyson looked up at me while Amelia put her face in her hands.

"Jesus, who died?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood, though that only seemed to make it worse as Amelia' dropped her head to her knees, arms wrapping around her legs. I looked at Trick "seriously! Who died!"He cleared his throat and looked at the male shifter, who grudgingly looked back at me. He picked up a picture from the coffee table and held it out to me as I approached.

"a little more than a week ago, after Lauren took off, the Ash had the remaining Manticore in the warehouse slaughtered out of spite." I looked at him shocked. He shook his head "then, just today, we found this." I looked at the picture and froze. My heart dropped to my stomach.

"No way."

This was not happening, this was _so so _not happening!

The photo was of a body, several limbs torn from the torso, blood everywhere. Large spikes were suspending the body almost half a metre from the floor, impaling it through the chest and the neck, it's limbs hanging from strands of I don't know what.

I felt sick just looking at it, until I realised just who the body was. Even with the long gashes across the face, a blind man would know. I didn't want to know. I knew what it would mean if this was real.

And it was.

It was the Ash.

**Dun dun dun! Oh the drama!**

**I finished NaNoWriMo two days early like the Mo Fo I am so I started working on this. And I managed to figure out the rest of the story! Yay me!**

**Reviews for my story are like virgin sacrifices in my temple, a pain in the ass to do, but they bring you good things. **


	8. Gone with the Shadows

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

_**Bo**_

"It wasn't her." I said, shoving the picture back at Dyson. It was obvious what the others were thinking. "Lauren isn't capable of doing something like this." Trick looked up at me, a certain sadness in his eyes.

"Maybe _she _isn't, but the thing inside of her…" I walked away, pushing my hair from my face and flat against my head, pacing back and forth. "An eye witness account from a guard said that Laughlin ordered them to throw Lauren in a cell when she snapped, she tore three of them clean apart before placing the Ash on display. The witness had been in the basement for days, not having the nerve to go back to the surface."

"She didn't just kill the Ash, Bo," Dyson said, rifling through the papers on the desk. "She also took this boy from the Ash's compound." I looked at the picture and narrowed my eyes.

It was a six year old boy, skin a warm almond colour, hair as black as night and eyes as blue as the sky. He looked sad, scared even.

I took the picture, looking into the boy's blue eyes in confusion.

"Why would she take a child with her?"

"In his file, it says his name is Tanner Lewis." I blinked

"That's Lauren's last name."

"Allegedly, Lauren's parents adopted him six years ago through a foster care program, one year later, they both died in a car accident, leaving Tanner in Lauren's care."

"So, why did the Ash take him?" That's when the answers stopped coming. Dyson looked at Trick who looked at Hale who looked back at Dyson. "Hey, I asked a question." I growled, feeling an uneasiness seep into the room. Dyson sighed and looked at me.

"He's fae. A Shadow Person."

"Shadow Person?" Trick scooted forward on the couch, hands folded in his lap.

"Shadow People are rare fae, they're thought to be the purest of evil, normally seen as a dark silhouette of a person or just a swirl of black smoke. Most relish tormenting humans, and are usually killed on sight.."

"But the Ash didn't." Dyson shook his head.

"The old Ash had intended to when he found her and the child in her apartment, but Lauren made a deal." I closed my eyes tightly. That must've been what Lauren wanted to tell me. Why she couldn't just leave the Ash's control. Her baby brother was on the line.

"She traded her freedom and medical skills for the life of her sibling." Dyson nodded, taking back the photo. I sat down on the arm of the chair beside Kenzi, who leaned her head against my thigh. I sighed, putting my face in my hands. Every Fae in the world would be after Lauren. Everyone would search for her and they would be thirsting for her blood. How could we protect her from everyone? Especially when we had no idea where she was?

"_After what I've done…" _Lauren's voice echoed in my mind softly, suddenly making sense. She'd known about it, about what happened to the Ash, about stealing her brother back from him, killing the pompous ass in the process. But even if she had had to kill the Ash, she wouldn't have done to him what was shown in the picture. That was probably the manticore having a little too much fun with revenge. Laughlin had slaughtered her entire pack without a hint of remorse, I couldn't imagine the reaction the monster inside the blonde would've had when it found out.

He'd been staked and torn apart, put on display for the rest of the world.

I shivered.

I couldn't let Dyson or Hale or anyone else know what I knew, that Lauren had been in contact with me. Right now, I was her only friend in the whole world. She protected me by leaving, now I'd have to protect her by keeping my mouth shut.

"So, now we have to find her before the other Fae do?" Dyson looked sombre and I couldn't believe what he said next.

"Bo, Lauren is not someone we can help anymore." I looked at him in shock. What the hell?

He wanted to let her fend for herself?

"Dyson, she didn't do this! It was that thing inside of her!"

"The Fae council won't see it that way. She did it, physical evidence points to it."

"But it wasn't _her!" _I yelled, standing up, fists clenched by my side. He stood the same time, equally agitated. "You're just going to let Lauren be hunted like an animal because some ancient hard asses won't 'see it that way'?"

"I'm doing things according to our laws, Bo!" He snarled, eyes turning dark "this isn't up to me!"

"You know what Dyson? You're a coward!"

"You're too emotionally involved!"

"I'm sorry I can't be a brick wall all the time!"

"You're not thinking this through!" He said, stepping up so he was towering over me. I didn't back down. "Lauren, the Lauren that we all knew, is long gone now. This kill just proves it!"

"It proves nothing!"

"The sooner you accept that she's gone, the better it will be for everyone!" He grabbed me by the shoulders and looked into my eyes, his gaze begging me to understand "Lauren is gone, Bo!"

I shoved him.

I shoved him hard.

I didn't mean to, it was just a knee jerk reaction. Still, he flew backwards, falling over the table and on his back. Everyone remained quiet for a long time. I felt terrible about it. I just couldn't stand hearing him talk about her like she was dead. She wasn't dead. No way. She had left a message on my phone. She had talked to me.

Still, my eyes burned a bright blue as I stood there, panting as anger swept through me. Dyson picked himself up off the ground, eyes the wolf-like yellow. "That's enough!" Trick yelled, standing up and stepping between us. I looked at him, his wise heir and then to the shifter standing opposite of me. His eyes faded out slowly, a concerned expression remaining in its place.

"Dyson," I said, gathering my self-restraint as Kenzi put her hand on my forearm gently. "If you _ever _loved me," his eyes softened as he looked at his shoes then back to me, a look of loss in his eyes. "you'll find a way to help Lauren, because right now, she's one of two things I have left in my life." I glanced at Kenzi who gave me a knowing nod "And I won't lose her like I lost you."

_**Lauren**_

"Lauren?" Tanner's voice echoed from the shadows of the cave we were in. I was on the ground, my body curled in on itself. I was in agony. I couldn't breathe without rockets of pain shooting through my nerves. My face rubbed against the rough wool blanket we brought with us. I took in a shaky breath as a soft hand touched my cheek gently, Tanner's worried face looking down into my eyes. I swallowed as another tremble shook my frame. "Are you hungry?" He asked, the smell of chicken soup tickling my nose. I gave him a weak smile and nodded slightly.

The six year old lifted my head carefully, touching the rim of the can to my lips, allowing the barely warm broth to trickle into my mouth. I swallowed and he pushed the hair from my face tenderly.

I'd visited Tanner regularly in his holding cell at the Ash's compound, every chance I got. I hadn't been living with my parents when they adopted him, but I loved him like a brother the first time I held him when he was a baby.

I killed the Ash. I'll admit it.

_I went to ask him for my brother back, saying that I was going to cut my loses and run for it. I knew he wouldn't take too kindly to me running from him and then coming back to get something. _

"_Ash," I said, swallowing hard as the guards around me began closing in slowly. Each of their footsteps echoed loud enough for me to hear each shift of weight, each slow breath. He glared down at me, the placid expression on his face just barely masking his outrage. "I know that what I'd done at the Dall had been inappropriate, but I felt that it was the only way to keep everyone safe."_

"_Then why have you returned?" He asked, already knowing the answer, just liking the way I was squirming like a worm under his gaze. "If staying away was…safer for everyone."_

"_I…I came back for my brother, Tanner Lewis, the Shadow Person you have in your hold." I said in a wavering voice. He pretended to think about it for a moment, the sick bastard, before he looked at me again._

"_And why would I give you back part of my rare collection?"_

"_Because the old Ash took him to protect him in exchange for my servitude. And now I think it's better for the both of us if I take him now and protect him myself."_

"_What makes you think I care?" He asked, leaning forwards, a perverse smirk on his lips. _

"_Please, Ash," I begged him "what happened to me is starting to wear me down. I just need to know that Tanner will be somewhere where I can know he's okay."_

"_What makes you think he's not safe here?"_

"_Ash—"_

"_I have a compromise for you," he said, leaning back in his chair "why don't you join him in his holding cell?" Three extremely strong sets of hands grasped my arms and my neck from behind. "That way, I get a new pet, and you get to keep an eye on the Shadow Child. Win-win."_

"_Ash! Ash please! I don't want to hurt anyone else!" Provoking me like this was a sick game for him. He wanted me captured, sure, but he wanted me to shift, he wanted to make himself feel like he was in control of both me and the monster inside. He smiled disgustingly as I fought both the guards and the beast from gaining control. _

"_Then don't, Dear Doctor. Just submit, or we'll promptly put you down like the rest of those beasts." I stopped fighting, my heart giving one agonizing pound after another. _

_The rest of them?_

_I looked up at him, half way turned around towards the dungeon, my body hunched forwards as I pushed back against the hands carrying me. The guards froze as well._

"_That's right, Pet," He said, standing up, looming down over me. "You're 'family' was burned down with that horrible warehouse early this morning. _

"_You…you killed them?"_

"_Very good doctor, it seems that creature in you hasn't affected your mind set, which is rea—" I broke my arm free of the hand that held it and snapped it out, grabbing the ankle of the Fae to my left, ripping his foot out from under him. He fell to the ground hard, head snapping against the ground. I kicked my leg out back at the guard directly behind me, catching him in the stomach and sending him flying into the wall on the far side of the room. I grabbed the remaining man's shirt and flipped him over my body, tossing him across the room._

_I remember looking into the Ash's eyes and taking a step forwards._

_That's when I blacked out._

_Next thing I knew I was running out of the compound, a half-awake Tanner clutched in my arms. _

"Maybe we should get you to a doctor." He said quietly and I shook my head.

"I told you, Tanner. We can't. We can't trust anyone right now."

"But you're sick. Real, real sick."

"I'm not sick, Tanner." I said softly, feeling his fingers pull through my hair and his tiny forehead rest against my temple. "I'm just…" I shook my head and pushed myself up, barely strong enough to get my torso off the ground. "Help me up, will you?" His small hands grasped my forearm and pulled, helping me to my feet. He held my hand as I slowly made my way over to the other side of the cave, where I'd packed and placed a backpack for him. He watched my feet as I limped over to it, helping me to my knees as I pulled the pack to me. "see this?" I asked him, holding the bag up. He nodded. "This is your very own survival pack." He cocked his head at me

"Survival pack?"

"Yes. See, if the guards come from your castle," I'd told him that the well equip cell he was in was his castle room. It was easier for him to grow up thinking he was a well protected and loved prince than a prisoner. It was easier for me to see him smile than to see him scared. "Or I tell you to, you take this and you run." He blinked at me

"Where?"

"Anywhere as fast as you can. No matter what, you keep moving, okay?"

"Why?" I pushed the messy strands of long hair from his face.

"You know, sometimes it's better to just do what you're told, like right now." I said it ask kindly as I could. I couldn't explain this to him. Not in a way that he'd understand. Mind you, I doubt if you said to someone 'Oh, I've had my DNA fused with a mythological creature's and now I might kill you if I get provoked in some way, so it's probably best if you run when you see me lose my mind' they would believe you in the first place. Besides, I couldn't tell him that I killed the leader of the light fae. I couldn't tell him that I'd killed more before then.

I was all he had.

I couldn't watch him be terrified of me.

"But what about you?" He asked, tiny fingers clutching the bag. "What if they come after you?" I shook my head, forcing a smile.

"You might not believe this, Tanny," I said, rubbing some dirt from his face "but I'm a pretty good fighter. I can handle myself."

"I could fight with you!" He said, suddenly excited "I could shadow 'em!" his hand dissolved into wisps of black smoke. "We could be super heroes! Like Batman and Robin!" I shook my head again, grasping his forearm gently, careful to keep away from the shadow.

"Tanner, no. I don't want you getting mixed up in this. Just listen to me when I tell you to do something, and we'll be okay." They would hurt him if they knew what he was. They'd take him back to the compound and chain him up, or worse. I couldn't let them do that to him.

I'd die first.

"What about that lady you called after you came to get me?" I sighed, he wiped the sweat from my head with him hand. "She can help us, can't she?"

"I can't call her again. It would be putting her in trouble too." He sighed, mimicking me and plopping down on the ground next to me.

"Are you gonna marry her?" I nearly spat out the soup in my mouth. Instead, I proceeded to choke on it.

"What?"

"That Bo girl, are you gonna marry her?" I stared at him for a moment and couldn't help but laugh, pulling him into me and kissing the top of his head, though my body screamed for me to curl back up on the blanket and sleep for eternity.

"I love you, you know that?"

"I love you too, Lo-Lo."

**Wow, I'm getting fast with these updates, managed to write this before school, GO me!**

**I was kind of hoping that, during last night's episode, Lauren would've snapped and gone all manticore, even if that doesn't make any sense with the storyline whatsoever. **

**But, ya know, that's just me.**

**Reviews are like your heart, you should only give them to people you really care about…which means you've gotta give them all to me. Like, all of them.**


	9. The Hunt is On

**Well, this is embarrassing. **

**I just realised I've been spelling "Lachlan" like "Laughlin" this entire story…I assumed that since "McLaughlin" is spelt like **_**that **_**that you just had to take of the "Mc" and the world was a dandy place. So, I apologise and proceed to blush like an idiot and try to fix every chapter. Thank you kindly to everyone dropping hints in the reviews, even though it was like screaming at a deaf man…**

**CHAPTER NINE**

_**Bo**_

"Why do you call to me?"_ the voice echoed in the dark, I opened my eyes slowly to total blackness. _

_Where was I?_

_I'd just laid my head down on a pillow a few seconds ago, completely exhausted from the events of the day and woke up here._

_But was this a dream?_

_Or some weird teleportation trip? _

_I rubbed my head, looking around the darkness. "Where am I?" I asked to nothing, pushing myself to my feet carefully, not sure if I would trip over something. The air was crisp, like a winter's morning before the sun came up. My mind pounded like a drum. _

_Maybe that had been one too many drinks before bed. _

"Limbo."_ The voice told me _"though only for a short time."_ I blinked around me, a faint light glowing down on me, granting me the ability to see my own hand in front of my face. _"Why did you call to me?"

"_Call to you? I don't even know who the hell you are."_

"I am everything."_ It said softly "_I am in everyone and everything. I cannot be seen, but I take away sight. I cannot be touched, but I kill many."

"_Mind cutting it with the riddle crap? My head already hurts."_

"I've been waiting for you, Isabo, for a very, very long time."_ I froze as a second light shone down on a form in front of me. _

_A giant manticore with massive raven wings sat before me, almost as tall as an elephant. I looked up at it and couldn't say a word. It just looked down at me, brilliant blue eyes piercing into my soul. I stumbled back as the wings fanned, a gust of wind hitting me hard in the face. _

"Many centuries have been spent awaiting your arrival, for the rebirth of the world."

"_Whoa there, giant, scary manticore…thing…." I said, trying to sound braver than I felt. "I don't know who you are, but you've got me mixed up with someone else. I'm Bo, just Bo."_

"I have no name, but many call me many things."

"_Okay, but what do I call you?" It seemed to think for a moment, its eyes narrowing in thought. Oh, did I happen to mention it didn't move its mouth when it said stuff? The sounds and words just seemed to echo through the air like its brain was talking or something. _

_Freaky shit to say the least._

"The latest name I have been given is 'Harbinger'. I suppose this shall suffice."

"_Okay then, Harbinger," I said crossing my arms over my chest and staring up at the massive lioness' face. "What're you doing here?"_

"The vessel in which I will be brought into the world is being prepared even now as we speak. Its body is being transformed to fit with my spirit. As I wait, I wonder what the true Isabo was like…now I see."

"_For the last time, I'm not this 'Isabo' you keep mentioning." I said, kind of aggravated now. This thing just pops up into my dreams and thinks it knows what I am? What the hell is that all about?_

"But you are."_ It stood again, revealing a pool of water that had been hidden behind it, the place we were in suddenly turned a brilliant white. But there was nothing. No walls, no windows, just endless nothing in every direction. It walked around the pool and sat down on the other side of it, the manticore's massive tail wrapping around its feet. _

_Slowly, I approached the spot where it had been moments before. I rested my hands on the rim of the giant marble bowl. The water was a clear, brilliant turquoise colour. I looked from the water to the beast across from me. Its blue eyes met mine with a calm certainty. _"Touch the water."_ It said, like a mother teaching a child. I hesitated when my fingers were just an inch from the calm surface. _"Touch the water and you will see." _I drew in a long, deep breath, praying to god nothing horrible would happen, and let my fingertips graze the water. _

_The water darkened to the colour of an angry ocean and an image appeared. _

_It was a silhouette of two people, standing above a crowd of shifting people. I swallowed as I watched the scene play out before me. And suddenly, it was as if I was on that rise above the group. The image looked down, and there stood Trick, looking up at me, eyes pleading. _

"_Bo!" he begged, the desperate edge to his voice hitting me like a semi. "Bo! Snap out of it! Remember who you are!" I stared at him. Stared for a long time. Just an eerie silence suddenly falling over the crow. It was like the people in the mob were under some kind of spell, a trance. Then, abruptly, Trick fell to his knees, his chi slowly leaking from his eyes and his mouth, swirling up to me, seeping into my body. He fell lifeless to the ground below me, and, with the nudge of my boot, he fell from the cliff, spiralling towards the crowd. _

_I covered my mouth with both hands, staring down at where Trick had disappeared in the mob below. Oh my god. What have I done? What did I do? Why!_

_The image swivelled again, turning to face a dark, smoky silhouette, wings of shadows extending from its back, its body crouched down like it was preparing to take off. There were no features to its face, no eyes, no mouth, no hair. Only blackness and more blackness. But, as it flapped its wings, a brilliant light hit me right smack in the face, blinding me—_

The light beside my bed turned on suddenly, the warm body that had been beside me was suddenly gone. I opened my eyes, wincing at the light, and saw Kenzi standing there, one hand pushing a mess of black hair from her face, the other holding my cellphone. "What're you doing?" I asked, rubbing my eyes, pissed that she'd woken me up. "I was in the middle of a really weird dream…"

"And I was in the middle of a really hot dream involving me and two guys who look like Greek gods when your phone rudely interrupted Hans, Stephan and me. It's been ringing for the past two minutes again and again." Just then, it rang again. She groaned and chucked it at me. "Deal with it, Boey" she said, walking around the bed and heading for the bathroom. The shower started when I pressed the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I said groggily, scratching my head.

"Um, hi…is this Bo?" A child's voice asked and I froze, suddenly wide awake. I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

"Yeah, who is this?" There was shifting of clothing in the background.

"My name is Tanner, Tanner Lewis." My heart stopped in my chest. "Lauren didn't want to call you again, she said that it would get you in trouble, but I found your number in the bag that she gave me. I don't think she meant to put it there but—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I said, shutting him up. He was talking so fast I couldn't understand a word he said. "breathe, Tanner." He took a couple slow, long breaths. "Are you okay?" After one more long breath, he started again.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but I don't think Lauren is."

"What do you mean? Is she hurt?"

"No, well, I don't know. She was all sick and tired for weeks but she wouldn't let me take her to a doctor or anyone who could help. She said that we couldn't trust anyone." I swung my legs out of the bed and glanced over at the bathroom, suddenly wary.

"Is she with you?" I heard his hair hit the receiver as he shook his head

"No, she told me that, if she told me to, I had to run."

"She told you to run?"

"Mhm, she told me not to turn back for anything, that she'd make sure I was safe."

"Why did she tell you to run? Do you know?"

"Nope. But she sounded real scared. Like real, _real _scared."

"Where are you, Tanner?" He paused, probably to look around. I waited in anticipation, the suspense killing me.

Tanner calling me was my key to finding Lauren. This was the only way I could even have an idea of where she was. If I found him, chances were I'd find her too. That was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I just hoped this kid knew directions and how to read.

And that no one else found out.

"Um…we're up in the mountains somewhere, a little logging village."

"Okay, are you using a payphone?"

"No, I'm using the phone in a coffee shop; the lady here is real nice and let me use it."

"Okay, good. Stay in that coffee shop, alright? I'm coming to get you."

"I can't stay here." My brows furrowed.

"Why not?"

"Lo-Lo told me that I couldn't stop running. She said that I had to keep moving or the bad men would get me." I nearly laughed at the nickname, but stopped myself, there would be time for teasing once I found the doctor.

"Bad men?" 

"Uh huh."

"Can you wait there for just a day? I promise I'll be there to get you by tomorrow night." He seemed to think about it for a while.

"How will you get here in a day?" He asked, sceptically "it took us two weeks to get here."

"I'll find a way, just wait there!"

"But—"

"Who are you talking to?" Kenzi's voice caught me off guard and the phone flew from my hands and clattered to the floor. I turned around, heart pounding to see Kenzi standing there in her towel. Hair dripping wet. "Jesus, Bo, calm down would you? I'm not gonna flash you or anything. Just wanted to know who you were whispering to." I looked from her to the phone on the ground and did something I didn't want to, but had to.

I lied.

"Just a client."

"What kind of client."

"The perverse kind. Wondering if I was looking for a 'good time'." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, Bo-Bo, can't exactly say you don't have it coming being a succubus and all. Anyway, I think I'll go see if Hans and Stephan can still be found." She pranced out of the room and I picked up the phone, staring at the screen for a moment before going into my caller ID and looking up the last call.

_Iggy's Café_

I jumped again when an unexpected voice reached my ears. "Hello Bo," I turned around to see the Morigan standing in the doorway, two rather large men and an elegant woman standing behind her.

"Morigan." I said, standing up to face her. "I don't remember inviting you into my home." I threatened and she chuckled

"Well, true enough, but this matter is far too important for manners at the moment." She reached into her purse and pulled out a photo of Lauren. "This is about your dearest Doctor. News has spread like wild fire that she's the one who killed the Ash. And, though I'm not sure anyone is actually terribly upset, we need to bring someone to justice."

"Lauren skipped town." I said, watching her hench men carefully. "No one knows where she is." She laughed tantalizingly.

"Well, we're feeling rather…nice today and are willing to give you four days to find the human before we start searching. If we find her before you…"

"What the hell is going on here?" Amelia's voice rang through the air, her heels tapping against the ground loudly. She stopped dead when the four people turned around. I had thought it was because of her leader being there. But when the three guards saw the blonde, they froze as well. Amelia narrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Milo? Jason? Ivory?" Simultaneously, the three of them returned, just as surprised.

"Mom?

**Ho ho! Fun stuff. **

**I think I figured out the situation with the Ash in the actual show. The guy who looks like Lachlan but has Lachlan's head is a shape shifter dude who killed the real Ash and is now going to take Lauren's shape and just screw stuff up!**

**Oh, if you can't tell, I haven't slept in a few days, so if this chapter's a little disjointed, that's why.**

**Reviews are the peanut butter to my jelly. The buzz to a bumble bee. The Doc to my cubus. **


	10. Looking for You Looking for Her

**My writing world is blowing up. I hate my two assignments for my writing class. Remember the magic tree house books? Remember how they used to be amazing? Yeah, don't read one again or you'll wonder why little you was such a moron for enjoying it. I have to type one out word for word and I feel like crying. This is crap!**

**Lucky for you guys, this is my escape.**

**CHAPTER 10**

_**Bo**_

I shut the door behind me as I walked out of the shack and towards the car. It was three in the morning and I was going to find Lauren, wherever she was. I left a note for Kenzi, explaining everything. I knew she'd be pissed when she woke up, most likely homicidal, but it was completely necessary.

She would want to come with me if I said I was going to find Lauren. She would want to make sure I was safe and stop me if I tried anything reckless. But recklessness might be my best bet at getting Lauren back.

And, as it turns out, the Morigan's newest body guards just so happen to be Amelia's children. All three of them. Each as ridiculously beautiful as the their mother. What the hell. Amelia looked like she couldn't be out of her twenties yet, and her children looked like they'd just _reached _their twenties…damn shifters…Anyway, they decided to stay in my house and visit with Amelia. I was supposed to be there hosting. Guess that didn't work out so well.

I digress.

I figured out where Tanner was by the address the caller ID gave me. Raven's Creek. It was a little town a week's drive away from the city. But, luckily, there was an airport just an hour from here that I could fly there in under four hours and grab a taxi into town to find Lauren's brother.

I shook my head

_Lauren's brother._

Why hadn't she mentioned him to me? Did she think I might turn on her because her adoptive brother was a Shadow Person? Maybe it had been the fact that I myself was adopted into a human family and hadn't been exposed much to the facts of the fae world that I didn't care. Talking to him on the phone made him seem like any other little kid. He was polite, smart, and kind of adorable sounding. It was hard to imagine him doing something horrible even without having met him in person.

I looked at his photo I stole from Dyson when he'd been leaving, looked into his blue eyes and tried to remember every feature on his face. I couldn't be comparing every kid I saw to a photograph as I walked through town. My backpack hung from my left shoulder lazily. I'd only packed an extra change of clothes and all the money I had, along with a couple books on mythology I'd been reading up on. I'd been trying to figure out any way I could reverse or help suppress what was happening to Lauren. After everything, she might not have been able to go back to a normal life, but at least we could make that life a little bit easier. A little less scary.

I wanted that for her. For us. I wanted a peaceful life. I wanted to be able to come home and find her waiting for me or to see her face when she saw me when _she _came home. I wanted to fall asleep at in her arms, and wake up the same way.

But that could cause even more problems for the both of us.

Technically, Lauren was still human. Which meant that whole weird 'no human/fae mates' issue was active or something.

That was another rule I didn't quite understand either. I mean, I knew Fae weren't human, but it didn't mean that feelings couldn't grow between them.

But did that rule even affect me if I was unaligned?

I didn't have a clue.

The drive was long, almost unbearably so. I was exhausted. I couldn't sleep not knowing if Lauren was safe. I couldn't sleep while I was imagining her off somewhere, dead or lost or worse. Luckily, traffic was non-existent, so speeding was an option. I passed a couple police officers on the way, but they didn't bother to stop me, they probably had the same mentality I did.

It was too early to worry about ticketing bullshit.

+/+\+

The plane ride was short, or at least it felt short. I fell asleep as soon as we took off, only waking up when a flight attendant tapped me on the shoulder after we landed. I rubbed my eyes as I walked through the airport with my backpack over my shoulder.

I did crack one of those mythology books I brought along, looking up the name 'Calisto'. It hadn't occurred to me to look it up after I'd heard it on the recording. I was too upset over the actual message to notice she called me by a different name, but used it like a pet name.

_Turns out, Callisto had been huntress in Greek legends. She had been Artemis' favourite. And, to honour her Goddess, Callisto took a vow of chastity. _

At this point, I started to get confused. How would a chastity vowed huntress remind Lauren of me?

_Anyway, Zeus admired Callisto for her beauty and her grace, and longed for her body. So, he disguised himself as Artemis, approached her when she was bathing and raped her._

What the hell?

_When Artemis found out that Callisto had conceived a child, she banished the huntress into exile. Hera, Zeus' wife, took her anger out on Callisto by turning her into a bear after her son was born. _

_There was no clear ending or fate of Callisto or her son; her son either shot her with an arrow or Zeus did. But it was clear that, in the end, both mother and son, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, were placed among the stars together for the rest of eternity._

I didn't understand how that legend even made sense in relation to me and Kenzi. But, then again, Lauren hadn't made the connection to the legend when she talked about Kenzi being Ursa Minor…

I supposed I'd just have to ask her.

I checked my watch as I left the plane; Seven a.m.

It was winter, so still had plenty of time to get to town before the sun came up.

The automatic doors slid open and my arms flew around me. Jesus Christ! It was colder than it would be if hell froze over! Instantly, I regretted my idea of not bringing much of anything. I hadn't expected it to be sub zero temperatures!

My phone buzzed and I looked down at it. Thirteen messages from Kenzi, and that was only because my mailbox was full. I lifted the phone to my ear and pressed play

"_Bo!"_ Her voice yelled at me through the receiver "_have you lost your little succubus mind! You can't go after Lauren! Call me back!"_

I pressed for the next message

"_Pick up! You have no idea how pissed—"_

Next message

"_Goddamn it Bo! Pick up the phone! You just ditched me with several angry non-human liking dark fae—_

Skipped past the next few until I got to the last one.

"_You dumb whore! Get your sexy tail back here this second or I'll beat it with a baseball bat or one of those fancy things Trick's got a million of!"_

I should've dumped it before I got on the plane.

I flagged down a taxi and gave the driver the address, promptly placing my cell in front of the back wheel. I smiled as a sharp crunch echoed through the car, though angry that I'd have to get a new one when I got back.

But, I relaxed in for the ride, arriving in town in just under forty-five minutes.

I walked into the basement of the coffee shop, where the woman running the place had told me she set up a temporary dwelling for him. It was lit by two small table lights, giving the room a warm glow. I looked around the room, noticing the small loveseat was made up as a bed, the blankets dishevelled and pillow on the ground. It looked like Tanner had got up in a hurry. Did whoever Lauren tell him to run from already find him? Did he get spooked and take off without waiting for me? Did he ever plan on waiting for me? "Tanner?" I called out to nothing, taking a shot in the dark.

A black shape appeared in the corner of my eye, but vanished when I turned. My heart took off, my palms got sweaty. I knew what it was, but it was still unnerving. "Tanner? Where are you?" Another wisp of shadow grabbed my attention and I turned the other way, but saw nothing again. The lights flickered and I dropped my backpack to the ground, fists clenching as I tried to _not _think of this like a horror movie. "Tanner, it's Bo!" the lights came back on.

"Bo?" a small voice asked from behind me. I turned around to see the blue eyes boy looking up at me, dressed in Batman PJs. His long hair was messy, pushed back from his face carelessly. His eyes were poofy looking, like he'd been asleep and just woke up. The boy rubbed at them lazily before looking up into mine.

"Yeah, we talked on the phone, remember?" I squatted down so I was eye level with him. He walked towards me slowly, carefully encase I was lying to him. His eyes narrowed in on the locket around my neck and he stopped. It was painfully still for a long while before he launched into me full force, knocking me back on my ass with the six year olds arms around my neck in a strangling hug.

Though dumbfounded, I hugged him back.

"Its okay, Tanner." I told him gently as he held onto me. "It's okay."

_**Kenzi**_

"_The number you have dialled is not in service at this time—" _

"Damn it, Bo!" I hung up the phone and slammed it down on the table angrily. I started pacing back and forth in the middle of a panicked storm of fae. Dyson, Hale and Trick were off in one corner trying to pin point the last place where Bo was before her cell signal dropped off the radar, Amelia was working some kind of voodoo on a piece of paper, and the darkling people were plotting the best route to find Lauren.

Simba jumped up on my shoulder as I walked.

"Kenzi mad?" he asked and I shook my head, scratching between his ears.

"No, Kenzi not mad." I muttered "scared." After listening to me talk to him since he started living with us, Simba finally got the gist of the English language, though his grammar was pretty shitty.

"Why scared?"

"'cause Bo's a stupid head."

"oh." He murmured, stretching out across my shoulders, his tail pressing against my back to keep himself centred. "Lauren?" he asked quietly and I shook my head.

"We still don't know where Lauren is." his ears pressed against his head. "Don't worry buddy," I rubbed my cheek against his. "I'm sure she's fine."

"Kenzi! Did you call Bo again!" Dyson yelled and I looked at him.

"No, I was ordering pizza! Did you _not _just see me on the phone?"

"So she didn't pick up?"

"No. The phone's not in service." I sighed, covering my forehead with my hand. "You know, this is why I think shows like CSI or law shows should be cancelled! 'Cause it teaches people, like love crazed succubae how to evade detection by disabling their cell phones! This is why I never watch those stupid shows! Bo's obsessed with them though! And this is-"

"Relax, Kenzi." Amelia grumbled and I whirled around.

"You _so _did not just tell me to calm down when my bestie is out there somewhere off finding the crazy beast-doctor you created!" the gorgeous blonde stood up and walked over to me, hands on her hips, blue eyes staring down into mine. _God _she was beautiful, but I wasn't giving into her charm. Not today sister!

"So you blame me for this?"

"Kenzi—"

"No," Amelia said when Trick tried to chastise me. "let the human speak her mind."

"Could you so stop calling me a human? Would you feel great if I went around calling you a bitch all day long?" She crossed her arms over her chest, silencing the growls from the other three pups behind her.

Her triplets, all three of them, looked like Greek gods or something. The two guys were both six-foot-four with broad shoulders and chiseled jaws, bodies absolutely rippling with muscles, hair as black as night, while their sister, the eldest of the bunch by two hours, was beautifully blonde like her mother with an hour glass figure. All of them had the lightest violet colour in their eyes.

"No, but considering that I have the ability to transform into a wolf in less than a second and tear your limbs from your body, I'd say I'm one person you shouldn't mess with."

"All you've done since you got here was blow stuff all to hell!"

"How so?"

"First, you save Lauren which was great, don't get me wrong, but you turned her into some weird underfae-human thing that nearly killed Dyson on several occasions and killed the Ash-hat! But did you _warn _Lauren that you were going to do that? No. No you just thought you'd wait to see what happened! And now Doctor Jekyll ran off to try and protect Bo from Ms. Hyde and now that same Bo has run off to God knows where to find her! And now I'm freaking out that Dr. Crazy-Ass Hotpants will kill my little Succu-face and we'll never find her again! And it's your entire stupid fault you bone chewing flea bag!"

she was still for a long time, just staring at me. Honestly, I was kind of scared she'd go wolf and tear me to pieces right then and there. Everyone else did too, all quiet and either ready to help her tear me apart, or stop her. Instead, she smirked.

"Feel better?" I blinked, surprised that I actually _did _feel a little calmer.

"Well…yeah…"

"Good." She patted my cheek. I was still too stunned with realization. "Now, go lay your cute ass down and sleep. Lord knows you'll be doing us all a favour." Not sure why, but I did what she told me to and walked towards Bo's bedroom, crawling under her sheets and instantly felt exhausted. Getting that all out did make me feel better, if not a whole lot more tired. Simba curled up in the crook between my bent knees and my stomach, nuzzling his head under my hand.

I sighed heavily and let my body relax. As sleep crept into my mind, I had one last prayer pass through it.

_Wherever you are, Bo, just please be safe._

**What light through yonder window breaks? It is you, and your reviews are the sun…!**


	11. Raven Winged Angel

**CHAPTER 11**

_**Bo**_

"So." I said, sitting down at a table with Tanner in the coffee shop. He was dressed now, wearing jeans and a parka and hungrily munching down on some pancakes with syrup. "You want to tell me about what happened to your sister?" He sat back in his chair as I sipped the coffee I ordered. He awkwardly shoved a piece of pancake into his mouth with his fingers and chewed for a little bit.

"What do you want to know?" he asked around a mouth full of food.

"What happened when Lauren told you to run?" He swallowed and chugged half of his milk.

"Um…" he said, eyes narrowing in thought. "She was on the floor of the cave we were staying in and she was shaking real bad, like she was cold or somethin'. When I asked her what was wrong and tried to hug her and keep her warm, she moved like this" he arched his back off his chair, hands falling back against the wooden seat "and she started crying a lot." My heart hit my chest like a sledge hammer. I could see the image so vividly in my mind that it scared me. I saw her lying on the dirty floor of some deserted cave, withering in agony, her six year old brother trying to help her but only making things worse. I suppressed a shiver and listened to the rest of what Tanner was saying. "And it looked like…" He looked away like he didn't want to continue.

"Hey," I said, leaning towards him across the table "Tanner, I know it's scary, but I need to know what happened the last time you saw your sister so I can figure out where she could be, okay?" He nodded slightly and inhaled a deep breath.

"It looked like her bones were moving around underneath her skin." I stopped myself from reacting in the way that I wanted and instead nodded coolly. Keeping it together right now was the best thing I could possibly do if I wanted to get as much out of Tanner as I could. "And, when I was running out of the cave, I heard her yelling really loud and a big rip and things breaking." He looked down at his hands "I shouldn't have left her alone." He said almost too quiet for me to hear him. "But I was too scared to turn back."

"You did the right thing, Tanner, getting yourself out of there and calling me was the smart thing to do. At least now we can go find her and help her." He nodded, but didn't seem convinced.

"When she used to visit me in my room," he began after a long pause. "she used to be really sad. I mean, she'd act like she was happy and all, but she never seemed to be as happy as she had been when I was little." I was confused at his sudden change in topic until I realised that I wasn't talking to an adult. He wouldn't stay on a painful topic if he knew a different topic would make him feel better.

"yeah?"

"Mhm. And then one day she came in to my room with a smile on her face. I asked her why she was happy and she said that she met a very, very special person. She said that she met someone who was lots different than adult she had ever met. She said that the woman she met would one day change the world. But she wouldn't tell me who." I couldn't help but smile slightly, the mental image of a happy Lauren was far better than a terrified one. "But then I saw Lauren's necklace on you, and I knew that you were the person she met a long time ago."

"How?"

" 'Cause she'd never give Mama's necklace to anyone who she didn't trust. Lauren doesn't trust much of anyone anymore." I nodded and he scarfed down the remainder of his pancakes. I dug into my pocket and put down enough money for the coffee and food and stood up, holding my hand out to Tanner.

"Come on, I think it's time we found your sister."

**+/+\+**

"So this way?" I asked, trekking through the knee deep snow as we wandered further and further into the mountains. Due to his short stature, I was forced to carry Tanner on my shoulders or risk losing him in the white stuff around me. He held on tightly as we waded our way further and further in. We'd been walking for well over an hour now; he seemed to get more and more nervous as we went along.

"She said not to come back." He murmured, resting his chin on the top of my head. "She meant it too."

"That's Lauren's only fault." I said, feeling a little out of breath, wishing I had fed before heading out. It would've been the smart choice; it would've ensured I was strong enough to run with the kid on my shoulders. "She's too selfless and caring for her own good."

"Bo?"

"yeah?"

"Do you love Lauren?" I blinked and heaved up over a log and down the other side

"Yes, why? Does she love me?" I felt him shrug.

"I dunno. She wouldn't actually say the word 'love' but she always smiles when I ask about you."

"What were you asking about me?"

"If you were pretty and nice and stuff like that."

"What did she say?"

"Not much, just noogied me and told me that I would find out for myself one day."

"And what do you think now?"

"I think you're nice and pretty and real smart. And I'd like it if you were my sister-in-law." I stumbled and caught myself on the nearest tree before I fell face first into the snow.

_What?_

"Why does everyone nearly die when I say that?" he asked, exasperated.

"Who else did you say that to?"

"Lauren. She nearly choked to death on soup when I asked if she was gonna marry you." I shook my head and chuckled. He was so bluntly honest with what he was feeling, it was almost refreshing.

"Marriage is a heavy commitment."

"Well, I think you two _should _get married."

"It's a lot more complicated than just getting married, Tanner. Your sister and I aren't even officially dating yet."

"How come?"

"Because, I'm fae, like you, and Lauren—"

"Is human?"

"Well, yeah."

"So what?"

"There're rules about that sort of thing."

"Who cares about rules? Lauren told me that you went against the rules of the light and the dark fae and decided to choose the humans."

"Yeah, and I caused a lot of trouble for myself by doing that. I don't want to bring Lauren into the crap storm with me."

"What if she _wants_ to be brought into it?" I opened my mouth to say something but stopped. That was a really good point actually. One that I hadn't considered before. What if Lauren _did _want to join in the shit storm that I was the centre of? I mean, it wasn't really my decision to make, was it?

Marriage was definitely something I was _not _ready for but it wouldn't be too terrible if I had someone other than Kenzi by my side, would it?

Seeing as Dyson had been all 'pro-tradition!' back at the club house, he pretty my surrendered his 'team succubus' membership card.

The Jerk-face.

"You know," I said, jumping down off a high rise. "You're probably the smartest kid I know."

"Lauren says the same thing all the time. But she's the smart one out of the two of us. She's the doctor and stuff—"

A low growl echoed behind us and I stopped dead in my tracks for a second before turning around slowly. A pack of rather pissed looking wolves stared back at us.

"Uh oh." Tanner said quietly. These were wolves. Not shifters, the actual big bad 'I'll eat you and be happy doing it' kind of wolves. I swallowed and grabbed Tanner's legs tightly.

"Hey, Tanner?"

"yeah?"

"You know that shadow thing you do?"

"Uh huh."

"Can you do that while airborne?"

"I've never tried before…"

"Then I guess we're about to find out." With a heavy heave, I tossed him in the air high above my head, distracting the animals for a moment. I watched until Tanner disappeared in a puff of smoke, then I took off down the slope, jumping over fallen logs and massive boulders, the sound of pounding paws chasing after me. "Shit!" I said as I lost my footing for a second and regaining it. Teeth snapped just inches from my heel before I took off again. "Double shit!"I jumped through the snow, long bounding leaps to try and get away from the furious fur balls at my heels.

This would happen to me, wouldn't it? I would get caught in the snowy mountain side with a pack of savage wolves chasing me down. This was fantastic. Brilliant even. Made my day.

Unfortunately, the blinding whiteness around me made it impossible to see the three foot fall in front of me. My foot slipped off the edge and I tumbled forwards, promptly smashing my head against the rock buried beneath the snow. Despite the blinding pain coursing through my body, I shoved myself to my feet and staggered forwards a few feet before falling back to the ground. I managed to look over my shoulder at the four wolves waiting there for me. The approached as the light slowly began fading out of the world around me.

I thought for sure it was over now. I'd failed both Tanner and Lauren, not to mention Kenzi would freak out. There was no way I had a hope in hell of making it out of this alive. My head throbbed agonizingly, a warm trickle of blood leaked down the side of my face slowly. I swallowed and pulled myself forwards with my fingers, feeling the burning of the snow as it froze my skin.

Then something amazing happened.

A miracle.

An angel fell out of the sky and landed directly on top of the leader of the wolf, the crunch of bones echoing from its body sickeningly. It's midnight wings fanned out fast enough that a stiff breeze blew my hair back from my face. I felt tears roll down my face slowly, in relief and thanks.

I'd been raised religiously, but, after finding out who I really was, I didn't really believe in that stuff anymore. But now, seeing an angel standing in front of me, fighting off the wolves that were going to kill me, a small amount of belief came back to me.

So, I started to pray.

"_Our Father who art in heaven, hallow be thy name_," She lashed out with her hand at one that lunged at her, hitting it hard enough that it flew through the air and smashed head first into a tree. Her wings flared out, knocking a wolf to the ground. "_Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."_ One latched onto her wing and she let out a cry of agony, her head throwing back. _"And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."_ She turned around and grabbed it by the scruff and tearing it from her body, tossing it off into the woods somewhere, a whip of scarlet blood throwing from the bite mark after the dog. _"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,"_

My vision started to blur as the rest of the pack ran away, stumbling over themselves in their haste. _"For thine is the kingdom"_ I let my head fall to the snow as the angel turned around to face me, its chest heaving. _"The power and the glory."_ I couldn't see much. I couldn't move. Still the words trickled from my mouth barely forming before falling out. A soft hand smoothed over my forehead and I couldn't hold back a whimper. _"Forever and ever…"_

The last thing I felt was two warm, strong arms slide under my body and the soft brush of feathers caress my skin. A familiar voice whispered softly

"Amen."

**Your reviews are a soothing balm after having to watch Lauren lock lips with her not-so-comatosed-girl friend right in front of Bo…**

**It's a sad day for Doccubus fans everywhere…**


	12. Finding Home

**CHAPTER 12**

_**Bo**_

I snuggled my head against the soft pillow under my cheek, pulling the comforter further up around me. I felt surprisingly well rested, like I had been in the deepest sleep of my life. I inhaled deeply and stretched, wincing when my head gave an angry throb. I opened my eyes slowly, surprised to find myself in a log cabin bedroom. Not only in a log cabin…but naked.

Very, _very _naked.

I sat up; ignoring the punch in the brain my head gave me and covered up my torso with the white blanket. I looked around the room with squinting eyes as the bright light blinded me. What the hell happened? Did I actually die?

If this is heaven, it's a really messed up place.

I pushed myself up completely and looked around. The room was barren other than a chair in the corner and a wardrobe with a mirror on the other side of the room. I looked at my reflection, at the black mark on my forehead. I reached up slowly, touching the neat row of stitches on my forehead, pulling together the torn skin from hitting the rock. The area was still numb, so it couldn't've been long since it was fixed up.

I looked down at the edge of the bed, noticing a glimmer of black among the soft white. I reached towards it, plucking the large, dark feather from the bed spread. I looked at it for a second, remembering the raven winged angel that saved me from the wolves. There wasn't a lot to remember, everything was just a burry haze of nothingness really. I remember the wolves, I remembered Tanner poofing away, falling and hitting my head…not much after that.

I moved towards the edge of the bed and found some folded clothing waiting on the chair, some sweat pants and a tank top. I pulled them on awkwardly and made my way slowly out the door, careful not to fall over or stumble. My head was still swimming as I followed the trail of feathers down the hallway. I heard soft grunts echoing from the room at the furthest point away. Part of me was curious as to what I'd find, the other part of me was terrified.

What if that thing I'd thought was an angel, wasn't?

Did angels have black wings?

_Could _they have black wings?

I entered the room and froze, not believing what I saw. It was if the world stopped spinning for just one, perfect moment.

The figure was sitting on the ground, back facing me, beautiful blonde hair reaching her waist, her torso covered by an awkwardly cut shirt three sizes too big but made room for the giant black wings sprawled out around her, one tucked into her back, the other one laying awkwardly on the ground, her jean clad legs laid out on the side. She glanced over her shoulder at me and hurried to stand up, wincing when she jarred her limp wing, the one packed with bloodied gauze.

My saviour.

My angel.

My-

"Lauren…"

I covered my mouth as the tears welled in my eyes. She looked at me, a beautiful sadness in brilliant red eyes, fear in them as she watched my reaction.

I stared at her for a long time, at the radiance of her skin and the wings that fluttered nervously.

"Bo." She said softly, emotions choking her own voice, tears welling in her crimson eyes. My broken heart throbbed almost more painfully than my head. She was alive, she was here with me. I was staring her dead in the eyes, though those eyes weren't the usual ones. I just didn't care. I found her. I found the woman I loved after so long apart. After leaving everything I knew behind to track her down. I found Lauren.

I found_ Lauren_.

I took a step forward and she held her hand out, warning me to stay back. It didn't register. I walked to her until I could touch her face, gently stroke the softness of her cheek and feel her lean into it. I threw my arms around her neck.

"Oh, Lauren." I sobbed as she hesitantly hugged me back. Her hands smoothed across my back and she inhaled deeply, pressing her lips against the side of my neck, peppering it with kisses. She gave in to my embrace, holding me up when my legs gave out. The tears rolled down my cheeks unrestrained. She rubbed my back gently, pulling me flush against her. "Oh my God, Lauren." I pulled back to look in her eyes, at the brilliant colour that remained there. "I thought I lost you forever…" I ran my thumb under her eye, wiping away the wetness there. She kissed my hand and held it to her face.

I punched her with a loose fist on the shoulder.

"Hey!"

"Don't you _ever _do something that stupid again!" I cried and she rubbed her arm, a regretful look on her face. Contradicting my last action, I pulled her towards me, crushing my lips to hers tightly, wrapping my arms back around her and holding her to me.

I couldn't describe the feeling that washed over me in that moment. It was like being held under water by someone and, just as you think that you'll drown, you reach the surface and can breathe again. Or being lost in the desert and thinking you'll never make it out alive, and then you find an oasis, water that saves your life.

"Bo." She said, putting her hands on my waist, pushing me away a little bit, bowing her head slightly.

"What?" I asked, trying to get a look at her face, my hands grasped at her shoulders gently, my hunger suddenly deciding to make an appearance with a libido as big as the CN tower. Luck me. "What Lauren?"

"I…" She looked at me again, touching my face gently. "I don't want to hurt you." I smiled, remembering when I said the same thing to her. I pushed the hair from her face, suddenly growing to love the ruby orbs looking back at me.

"Would it be total déjà vu for me to say that I trust you?" She smiled at me and I leaned my forehead to hers.

"You need to feed." She stated and I nodded "how long?"

"Since you left."

"Bo, you can't just stop taking care of yourself every time you get upset or every time something happens." I rolled my eyes, feeling the surprising amount of extremely toned muscles rippling under her skin as she moved.

"Wow…" I breathed, running my hands over her biceps and she laughed a low, sexy chuckle. Mind you, just about everything sounded sexy to me in that moment.

"Yeah, another perk of being a crossbreed."

"And your wings?" She looked over at them and sighed

"An unfortunate consequence." I looked at the limp one, and she cleared her throat nervously. "The um…the wolf took a nasty chunk out of it."

"I thought you would've stitched it up."

"I can't. Turns out, anything manmade, such as a suture needle, can't pierce the skin on these things…I'm not entirely sure why." I looked at the dark wings and slapped my hand against my mouth.

"Oh shit! Tanner!" I pulled away and began pacing like a maniac. "How could I be so stupid! I brought Tanner along with me to find you and when the wolves attacked…I lost him! I lost your brother! Oh hell, Lauren! Don't worry! I'll go find him I mean he can't be too far right? Wait, how long have I been out of it? Oh my god! What if he's dead! What if he's—" Lauren grabbed my shoulders in her hands, stopping me.

"Bo." I nodded "Tanner is sleeping in the other room. I found him after the wolves left." I nodded and she shook her head, brows furrowing as she slumped forwards into me.

"Whoa," I breathed, catching her. "You okay?" She nodded, smiling unconvincingly.

"Yeah, yeah, of course. I just haven't slept much…or eaten much lately…I couldn't exactly go into town and buy groceries with these massive things on my back. What food I had I packed for Tanner to take with him." I slowly lowered us to the ground, letting her lay her torso in my lap, her head snuggled against my stomach, fingers clenching my pants. "Maybe…maybe I could just shut my eyes…just for a little while…" Her breathing slowly deepened as she fell asleep, my fingers pulling through her hair slowly, relishing every second of this moment.

I leaned down and planted a small kiss on her cheek bone, making her smile in her sleep. I couldn't express the kind of happiness that pulsed through me in that moment, having the woman I loved in my arms after thinking I'd lost her forever. She was so beautiful, so breathtakingly gorgeous that my heart felt like it would explode.

"Lauren?" Tanner asked and Lauren jerked back to being awake, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She held her arms out to the boy as he rocketed forwards into her, arms flying around her neck. She hugged him back and smiled, kissing his cheek. "I missed you lots!"

"I missed you too, Tanner." He pulled back and cocked his head when he saw her eyes. With his tiny fingers, he pushed her eyes open wider so he could get a better look.

"Why are your eyes all red and stuff? Did you drink a lot?" Her wing shifted uneasily. He apparently didn't understand that your got blood shot eyes, your irises didn't turn red. He looked at the wings and his jaw dropped open. Lauren froze, looking at her brother's face, at the undecipherable expression that was almost comedic.

That situation could've gone only two ways. The first, the better one, Tanner was a little unnerved by his sister's sudden wing growth and red eyes, but wasn't too shaken. Or secondly, the worse, he rejected her completely and ran screaming for the hills. Either would completely destroy Lauren, her only remaining family member alive, but terrified of her. I put my hand on Tanner's shoulder.

"Tanner—"

"THIS IS _SO _AWESOME!" He said, stumbling as he hurried around Lauren to stand in front of the massive limb. I watched him as he carefully pushed down on the top joint, slowly forcing the wing to extend to its full seven-foot span. He ran his fingers over the smooth feathers, squealing like a fan girl when Lauren fanned it slightly. "YOU'RE LIKE HAWKGIRL!" He howled with excitement "A SUPER HERO!" Lauren shook her head, the biggest smile on her face. He ran around to the other side of her and stopped, looking at the gauze. "What happened to this one?" he asked, struggling to lift it up off the ground.

"I had a bit of an accident. It's nothing serious though." I moved towards where Tanner held it and looked at the taped on gauze pack. I looked down at Tanner.

"You ready to play doctor?"

**+/+\+**

"ow!" Lauren whined as I pulled the pieces of stuck gauze from the gash. It wasn't terrible looking, but the deep puncture wounds from the wolf's teeth were extended to the outer edge of the wing, the skin was obviously enflamed and angry looking. Tanner was boiling up some camomile tea to help with the swelling. Lauren had tried to bandage it herself, but the awkward angle made it hard for her to clean it properly.

Luckily for her, she had a succubus and a kid brother there to help.

"Might I just say," I started, placing the final piece of gauze in the bowl next to me as she laid face down on the kitchen table. Turns out, that this was her family's summer cabin from when she was a kid. Her parents left it to her in their will and she didn't have the heart to sell it. "Back in the forest, you were amazing. I actually thought you were an angel for a second."

"Yeah, I heard you praying." She said, her wing clamping up when it plucked a stray strand from the wound. I pulled the feathered limb out again and she grumbled something under her breath, turning her face away from me.

"Might point is, thank you for saving my life." Her fingers splayed out on the table, sliding over my own.

"You don't have to thank me for that." She murmured, squeezing my hand gently. I kissed her cheek.

"Bo!" Tanner called out, "Its finished!"

"Good, let it cool down a little bit and go see if you can find a movie to watch tonight."

"The movies are in the back room," Lauren said and the boy was already off to the races "Just watch the—" a loud crash followed by an 'oops!' echoed down the hall. Lauren sighed "lamp." She lifted herself up so she could turn over onto her back, looking up at the ceiling. I chuckled and walked over to where her legs dangled off the edge of the table, crossing my arms over my chest to keep myself from doing anything bad. She looked up at me, pausing before sitting up completely, concern written all over her face. "You need to feed…" she stated, examining my pupils.

"Yeah…"

All those weeks of refusing to feed were coming back to bite me in the ass now, making it almost impossible for me to be in the same room with her and not think about it.

_God _I was turning into a total horn dog.

"When Tanner falls asleep, we can see if we can find someone to—"

"no!" I said, too quickly. "I mean, if you don't mind…I want it to be you…"

"Me?" She asked surprised, which wasn't completely unexpected. I'd made a point of not feeding from her when we were between the sheets, worried I'd get too excited and take too much from her. "But I thought…"

"I know, but I just…I don't want it to be anyone else."

"I've noticed." She said, a small smile playing at the edge of her lips "every time my skin touches yours, your eyes light up like Christmas trees. Literally." I smiled with embarrassment and looked down, backing away from her touch so I could regain some composure.

"Well, I mean, are you okay with that? If I fed from you? 'Cause if not I'm totally fine with—"

"Bo," I looked up at her, the content smile on her lips made my heart flutter. "Since day one of you being here, even after you succubus mind controlled me, I've been wondering what it was like to be fed from by you. And, now that I'm strong enough to handle it, I think it's time to find out." She stood up, taking my hands in hers and kissing it gently. I smiled at her, feeling like something great was about to start for the both of us.

_**Kenzi**_

"Kenz" a deep voice murmured, shaking my shoulder.

"Wha?" I rolled over, looking up at Dyson groggily. "Oh, hello." He smiled amusedly.

"Come on, we found Bo." That caught my attention.

"Wait, what? Where! How?"

"A buddy of mine works in a small village up North, Raven's Creek, he said he saw her walking off into the woods with the boy."

"She took the Shadow Fae-by?" I asked, sitting up.

"We don't know. But we're gonna go find out." A thought echoed in my head as I pulled my knees to my chest.

"You know Bo will kill you if you hurt Lauren, right? And I don't mean metaphorically either. She'll _literally _kill you if you do anything." He paused as he walked away, looking back over at me, a determined look in his eyes.

"Unfortunately, Kenz, this whole situation is bigger than everyone now." With that, he disappeared out the door, leaving me with my thoughts.

And my worries.

**Anyway, just thought I'd make happy happy fun times between Bo and Lauren again…because, although Nadia is a very pretty previously-comatose lady, it still broke a little bit of my Doccubus heart seeing Bo's face when they kissed. **

**But, then again, if you remember 'I'll be here', it's always calm before the storm.**

**Reviews are like band-aids which tape together my broken heart…and I need lots and lots of them.**


	13. The Forerunner

**To everyone thanking me, don't worry, I like putting out quick.**

**What was that? Did I only answer because I found a hilarious, if not inappropriate, innuendo? **

**Well…yeah.**

**Oh, just so's ya know's, I figured screw it, I'll throw in some tasteful smut. It does, however, verge on the M rating…I don't know why I'm warning you about that, because I know you'll all just wanna read it more…dirty yet tasteful perverts…**

**Also, if you listen to the song 'Edge of Desire' by John Mayer, it just adds a little bit of mood to the flashback. **

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

_**Lauren**_

"Hey sexy lady." A warm voice purred in my ear as I slowly opened my eyes. Bo was propped up on her elbows, facing me on her stomach, a smug smirk on her face. I smiled slightly before letting my eyes fall closed again. I hadn't slept in weeks, day or night, kept awake by pain, nightmares or _fear _of having nightmares. I pretended to to make Tanner sleep, but mostly I'd lay awake worrying about everything that could go wrong. About everything that _did _go wrong.

But lying here with Bo gave me a kind of peace. Like the missing puzzle piece had been found and now I could stop wondering where it went and enjoy the picture it made.

"Last night was…wow…" she breathed and I opened my eyes again, running the back of my hand over her bare shoulders.

"Yeah…wow…"

_We'd just watched all the Shrek movies twice before Tanner had finally passed out and the succubus carried him into his bedroom. I took the time to get myself prepared mentally for what was about to happen. I hadn't been…intimate with Bo, or anyone for that matter, since the warehouse. And so much had changed since then. _

_I didn't know how my body would react to being fed from. I didn't know if it would go into attack mode or if it would accept it. So, I looked at myself in the mirror, adjusting the shirt awkwardly, trying to decide if I should just take it off before hand or leave it on. My ruby eyes glimmered in the light of the bathroom, sending a rush of shame through me. I turned on the tap and washed my hands out of nervous habit and opened the door to my room._

_Bo waited for me in the bed, sitting cross legged by the head board. The room was lit by a dozen or so candles scattered around. I was careful to get my wings out of the way before shutting the door. I felt like a kid again, all awkward and shy. _

"_Hi," Bo murmured, adjusting her position on the bed._

"_Hi." I said softly, playing with the hem of my shirt. _

"_how are you?" I shook my head, unable to keep the smile off my face. _

"_Worried, confused, a lot of other emotions I can't exactly name." She moved over after a moment, patting the space she'd been sitting. I moved and sat down slowly, facing her. _

"_Lauren," she took my hand gently "if you're not ready—" I kissed her hand, silencing her for a moment._

"_No, I'm ready…I'm just nervous, I guess."I looked into her eyes, seeing the hunger there, both the need to feed and the need to be with someone you cared about. I pushed up onto my knees, slowly forcing her to fall back on the mattress, my arms on either side of her head. I watched as her eyes began to glow. "Not to put any pressure on you…" I said, feeling her fingers carefully reach up and under my shirt, trailing over the skin of my stomach, sending small waves of ecstasy through my body. I took a deep breath and dug my nails into the mattress. She _definitely _wasn't worried about putting pressure on _me_. She was enjoying it. "But, when manticore mate…they mate for life." She froze, no doubt having Dyson flash backs. "I mean, I have no idea if it'll effect me, but I thought you should know in case—"_

"_are you willing to do this with me?" she asked and I stopped, staring down at her face, determination on her features. "Are you willing to make this bond with me if it means we'll be connected forever?" I looked at her, trying to understand the emotions she was feeling. It was like trying to read a blank piece of paper. Honestly, I would've thought her to be a little worried when it came to something about being giving myself to her in more ways in one. But looking down at her face, I felt that pulse in my heart that happened when you knew you loved someone undeniably. That you would do anything for them, no matter what the cost. So, instead, I told the truth._

"_Yes." She nodded once briskly._

"_Then so am I."_

_She was trying to make this easier for me, to sooth my feelings of self-restraint and carefulness, to bring allow me to let loose. And it was working. Her succubus touch was allowing me to let go of my fear and just be. While her promise allowed me to unleash my heart. "You look so beautiful…" she whispered in a raspy voice. I swallowed against the shiver that ran through my body._

_I leaned down and touched my lips to hers gently, instantly feeling a sharp tingle where my skin met hers. _

_And I let go. _

_I let her take as much of my life force as she needed. _

_It was like flying, feeling her healing, feeling her filling that void part of her biology that she'd been neglecting. Knowing I was the one helping her get better. Knowing I was the only one she _wanted _to help her. I stayed perfectly still as she fed, her hands cupping the sides of my face gently. _

_The strange part was, I didn't feel tired. As Bo let out a soft moan and stopped feeding, instead moving to lay soft kisses on the side of my neck, I was almost sad._

_I looked over at the window, the shutters closed on the outside turned it into a kind of mirror. In my dim reflection, I distinctly saw something that shocked me, but made me smile at the same time. _

_My eyes were glowing a brilliant violet colour. _

_My fascination lasted only a moment as Bo pulled my face back to hers and kissed my lips softly, a sort of reliant desperation in her strong, but slow, movements, her eyes glowing the same beautiful purple that mine were. I held her body close to my own, kissing her shoulder, pulling the tank top over her head and throwing it to the floor before tearing the shirt I wore in half, knowing it would be easier than trying to get it off the limbs protruding from my back. _

_She smiled up at me, adoration in her eyes as I sat back on her hips, fingers resting on her waist band, just slipping under it. "I love you…" she whispered, resting her hands over mine. I looked into her eyes, at the succubus who had stolen my heart, and I lifted her hand to my lips, placing soft kisses on each of the knuckles. _

"_I love you too."_

Her lips touched mine again gently, tucking my hair behind my ear. "You're like a succubus battery charger." I smiled and wrapped my arms around her tightly.

"You also did your part for me too." During the night, Bo had been so…super charged, I suppose, that she managed to breathe some chi into me too, helping my wing to repair itself faster than I thought possible.

"We make quiet a team, don't we?" She said teasingly and I nuzzled my nose against hers.

"We do." She gave me a seductive smirk and kissed my lips tenderly.

"Ready for…what round are we on? Eighteen? Twenty? I've lost track" I laughed and looked up at the ceiling.

"You need to stop exaggerating." I said looking at her and her child like mischievous grin. "It's way less than round twenty…I can't say exactly _how _many, but it's less than that." I glanced at the clock and sighed. It was nearly eight. "And, we have to get up. Tanner will be up soon. It's like he runs on clockwork or something." Bo sighed dramatically, but got up.

We dressed slowly, she helped me cut a new shirt and slide it over my wings. We cut the sleeves off, and cut it right down the seams on either side so it was essentially in two pieces, then tied together the top corners and the bottom corners, securing them in place while my wings went through two slits in the back.

If you're wondering how I managed to do it the first time, don't ask. It's really embarrassing and awkward. Trust me.

She wrapped her arms around my waist when we were dressed, her fingers gently brushing against the long feathers of my folded wings. I wrapped my arms loosely around her neck, resting my forehead against hers.

That was when I heard it.

The crunching of snow under heavy footsteps. The clicking of guns as they were loaded. I held my breath and looked at the boarded windows, my heart taking off on a marathon. Someone was here. Somehow, they found me.

"You know, if Bo is _really _with the Half and the Shadow Child," the Morigan's muffled voice said, maybe a hundred feet from the house "she'll be found as a traitor to the Fae world."

"I know." Dyson's voice answered, a little bit closer.

"And you're okay with that?" Kenzi's voice added to the mix.

"What is it?" Bo asked quietly and I looked back at her.

"Get Tanner and stay in his room until I tell you otherwise!"

"Lauren!"

"Don't ask questions and don't argue!" I snapped hearing the foots steps getting closer to the front door. "Just do as I say!" She stared at me for a brief second before taking off through the house towards Tanner's room.

I clenched and unclenched my fists, feeling the throbbing beginning again in the base of my skull. I staggered to the bathroom, locking the doors and windows as I went. I stared at my eyes in the mirror, seeing past myself and into me. "I know you're there." I whispered to the part of me I've been supressing, the other being residing within my soul. A low rumble started in the centre of my chest, vibrating outwards. "I know because I've had to suppress you for a long, long time…" Slowly, the pounding in my skull spread until my body thrummed to a single, animalistic rhythm. "but I need your help now." The clicking of guns sounded just a few yards from the house. "I can't protect Tanner and Bo on my own anymore…I'm just too tired…I need you to keep them safe…" I stared at my eyes as they slowly changed to a bright blue, far brighter than Bo's.

Suddenly, my hands slipped from the counter and I fell to the floor, my body feeling numb, not listening to my panicked commands to get up. My vision began to blur. A strong voice echoed through my mind as the world faded away.

"_It will be done."_

_**Kenzi**_

I walked behind Dyson and Hale, beside Simba who lugged the other equipment behind him on a sled. You would think that the tons of pounds of net launchers and tranquilizers would be hard for him, but he pranced along like it was nothing. I had to remind him to slow down more than once so he wouldn't knock all the stuff over.

I was nervous, to say the least. The Dark Fae, other than Amelia, wanted Lauren dead or in captivity, while the Light Fae peeps wanted Lauren to come peacefully, but were armed and ready in case things didn't go their way.

My biggest worry was Bo. She'd go ape shit crazy if someone tried to hurt her or do _anything _to her lady lover. Now, I had firsthand experience with Succubus strength when you simply disturbed her meal. And that was when she was more or less a faeby succubus. There was no telling what she could do now that the Doc had helped her out with stuff.

Ivory cocked her tranq gun and held it against her shoulder. The Darkies were _really _jonesing to take her down. I shook my head at the thought of them firing at Lauren like she was an animal.

"Fire on sight." Dyson said, raising his own gun.

"We can do this an easier way!" Trick said, sounding aggravated and worried. "If you stress her out there's no telling how she could react!"

"Old timer," The Morigan said, strutting along behind her beefcakes. "We don't have time to play nice with the freak. We need to get it back home before there's yet another war, alrighty?"

"_She _is not an _it!" _Amelia snapped, clenching her gunless hands in tight fists. She would never raise her hand against her leader, but it doesn't mean she didn't really _really _want to. I didn't blame her. I really, _really _wanted to too.

"Whatever I still think—"

The door to the log cabin swung open violently, crashing against the wall with enough force to make the solid wood shudder like it would explode into slivers. Everyone shut up and stayed deathly quiet for a long, long time. I swallowed, my heart pounding in my ears.

Simba's ears perked up, a low whimper coming from his muzzle.

I looked around nervously.

It was only when Trick drew in a quick gasp that I focused back on the house.

In the doorway stood a figure, a human body with wings stretching out on either side, muscled limbs stepping out barefoot into the snow, its head bowed.

When it looked up, the bright eyes hit me first, then the blond hair and the pointed ears

"Lauren?" Trick asked and the world seemed to stop. No expression crossed her face. A chorus of voices answered him.

"_Our name is Harbinger."_

**Oh ho! Sorry it all just slowed down with the updates, I needed a mental break from writing for a while. Last week before winter break sucks a big one.**

**Did you hear? The mental institution is letting me pay my way out with reviews! The only thing is, I'm short a lot of them. A little help here please?**


	14. Into the Fade

**So, you guys are lucky I'm both Austrian **_**and **_**Canadian 'cause that means I feel obligated to give you guys **_**two **_**presents instead of one this holiday as the Austrian Christmas is on the 24****th**** and the, for lack of a better word, normal Christmas is on the 25****th****.**

**If you don't celebrate Christmas…then these are either early [insert holiday here] presents or belated [insert holiday here] presents…or they're right on time….**

**Inspiration is hard to find when I'm so busy filling my gob with Christmas cheer. Sorry for the delay.**

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

_**Dyson**_

I froze with my finger on the trigger, my heart slowing down in rhythm. That thing standing in front of us, barefoot in the snow, looked like Lauren, exactly like her. But it didn't act like her in the slightest, nor did it smell like her. It smelt old, ancient.

It's mouth didn't move when it announced its name. It didn't break eye contact with Trick the entire time. Trick stepped forwards, ahead of the hunting group.

"Trick!" Kenzi yelped taking a step after him "Are you psycho! It'll kill you!" I barred her with my arm when she tried to get to him, her forwards rush upsetting the creature. It's ears pressed back against its head, lips pulling away from its teeth, though no sound came from it. I recognized that look. It wasn't one of aggression, it was a warning. It didn't want Kenzi getting mixed up in whatever was happening.

"Harbinger?" Trick asked in a controlled, neutral voice. He took a few more careful steps forwards. The being relaxed slightly, lips sheathing its teeth and ears straightening out. "May I ask, what are you exactly?" It studied Trick for a few seconds, before three different voices answered him at the same time, Lauren's lip never moving.

"_We are all. We are the whisper from the shadow, the blinding light from the sun, We are both ancient and young. Old and new. We have no physical shape but the shape We are in."_

"What the hell?" Hale whispered, confusion obvious on his face.

"Are you fae?" Trick asked

"_We are not. We predate the arrival of your species. We've been watching for a very long time." _

"Watching?" Trick questioned, "watching what?" the Harbinger's head tilted to the slide slowly, blinding blue eyes full of thought, of knowledge beyond comprehension,

"_The world turn."_ It said after a long pause, a wistful look in its eyes. _"The birth of stars, fall empires, the fires of battles which_ _have shaped the Earth itself."_

"How long have you _been _watching?" Trick asked carefully as he devilled deeper into the life of this unknown being.

"_We understand your curiosity, Fitzpatrick Maccorieghan," _Kenzi looked at me in shock, the same question running through both of our minds.

How could it know Trick's full name?

"_anything more on this topic, you need not know."_

"Where's Lauren?" He asked, redirecting the situation "have you harmed her?" It stared at him for a moment, the blinding eyes studying him, as if it was deciding exactly how much it should give away.

"_No." _It said finally. I sighed in relief. The doctor and I may have our differences, but that doesn't mean I want whatever that thing was to kill her. I didn't want to kill Lauren. I didn't want her dead. What happened to her wasn't her fault, but it doesn't mean that it should've happened in the first place. Every time a Half had been created within our recorded history, it caused nothing but destruction. The human side often was over powered by the underfae side and gave into primal instinct.

I would fight for Lauren's life as long as I could, but she would have to be brought into custody. Where she could be monitored appropriately.

I wouldn't let Bo stand trial for treason either. Nor would I let the child be harmed in anyway.

I just had to figure out what the hell this thing was first, and what exactly it did with the doctor.

"_The human, Lauren, as you call her, is resting. Her soul has been in great distress since she departed and then rejoined the world of the living."_

"So your presence has put strain on her?"

"_Yes. We did not wish for this, but it was an unfortunate side effect of our joining. Her soul is pure, a beacon of hope in a world so ruled by hatred. The loss of her light would be a great disservice to the world."_

"May I ask one more thing?"

"_Yes."_

"Will you give us the boy and yourself peacefully? You both are putting a great unease on the fae world, but were you to come without violence, it would ease the worries of everyone." It was silent for a long time again. It never once blinked, keeping its gaze locked on Trick. I held my breath, allowing my wolf to begin to stir under my skin in case something were to happen.

And something did happen.

That question was a truce breaker.

"_No."_

One side of Harbinger's upper lip pulled back from its sharp teeth, a low growl emitting from the centre of Lauren's chest. This growl was different from the first. Instead of being a warning of good intentions, it was a warning of its ability to tear you apart should you push it too far or challenge it.

"Surely you must understand that these factors, both your Half host and the shadow child you're protecting, will inevitably cause a war between the light and the dark again!"

"_And surely _you _must see, Blood King, that this is not a subject which can be negotiated!" _the voices snarled, outraged at the peace offering. _"This body is not a 'Half' as you call it. It is a Guardian, its creation was no fluke of nature, no rescue gone wrong. This body was altered so that the Champion may be protected!"_

"The Champion? Altered? What are you talking about."

"_The manticore cub whom mauled Lauren was not sent by any vengeful fae, it was guided there by forces unseen with the foreknowledge that the Healer," _We all glanced at Amelia, whom didn't show an ounce of discomfort. More like fascination. _"Would be called for her."_

"How could you possibly know that?"

"_You are foolish to believe you are the only one whom possesses the ability to shape destiny. There are forces far greater than you at work."_

"Who is this Champ—"

"Enough of this game of twenty questions!" barked the Morrigan, cutting Trick off. "We just need to drag it back to the Ash's compound and stop the war that's going to break out." She turned her head towards Ivory "Shoot it and let's go home, I'm tire of this frozen waste land." The click of the high powered tranq rifle filled the air, nearly drowned out by Trick and my cry of both outrage and distress, and the dart traveling almost too fast to see shot straight for the Harbinger. It didn't seem to realise what was happening, or at least it didn't seem to until it caught the dart between its thumb and index finger.

It _caught _the dart!

In an instant, its brilliant blue eyes turned a violent scarlet, a loud roar tearing from its throat. The dark fae shot off more darts before I could stop them, lunging forwards and grabbing their guns just a split second after they pulled the trigger.

The black wings curled in around the blonde, the feathers deflecting the incoming projectiles like they were ping pong balls hitting a metal shield. They flew open again with enough force to send a shock wave big enough to make me teeter on my feet. They revealed the hooked claws and long, midnight coloured spines extending from her arms. She then ran forwards, bounding on all fours like a lion would, heading straight for Ivory.

"Stop!" I yelled, stepping between the two, my arms spread out in front of Ivory. And, to my surprise, Harbinger listened, standing back up as it slid to a stop, using its wings like parachutes. It watched me carefully for a moment. "Harbinger…" I began, trying to keep the situation under control. "We mean you no harm."

"_Your idea of peace is shooting? We have many issues with your logic, Shifter."_

"No, that isn't our idea of peace, whether we like to admit it or not, we are fearful of you. Our reaction to fear is to lash out."

"_We understand, Dyson." _Uneasy chills shot through me when 'they' said my name. _"But we cannot allow for harm to come to the Champion."_

"What 'harm' are you speaking of?"

"_A great evil is coming. One that will destroy the world as you know it if it is given the chance to hurt the Champion."_

"What great evil?" before it could answer, the door to the cabin swung open. There stood Bo and Tanner, Bo wobbling on her feet, Tanner trying to pull her along, fear evident on his small features.

"Bo!" Kenzi ran towards her, stopping when Bo's legs sudden gave out. Harbinger caught her before she hit the ground, cradling her as it lowered her down softly.

"_No…" _It whispered softly, Lauren's voice dominating the others. Its hand smoothed over the Succubus's forehead. _"No, it can't be…I've failed. I've failed everyone, everything…"_

We all ran forward to her side, fighting to get a spot by the brunette and see what had happened. There was no sign of physical harm or anything, to my surprise, but the Guardian seemed more upset than I thought possible. It was like someone had just shot its puppy with a shot gun. "Bo?" Kenzi said, holding Bo's face in her hands, smushing her cheeks. "Bo! Bo wake the hell up you stupid succubum!"

"What happened to her?" Asked Trick, Tanner hiding his face in Harbinger's shoulder as she wrapped one arm around him and raised Bo's face to its own, squeezing its blue eyes shut.

"_It has taken her to the Fade…" _it whispered in a tone that made my heart break.

"What is 'the Fade'?"

"_The world between worlds, you call it 'Limbo'" _

"How did it get her?" The Harbinger didn't seem to hear Trick, it just rocked the unconscious Bo back and forth in its arms, holding the crying child next to her.

"_It has taken her from right under my nose and dragged her off into the other realm."_

"Help her!" Kenzi yelled in desperation. It shook its head.

"_I cannot help her." _Lauren's voice said, finally addressing itself as a single being. _"Only she can."_

"What if she can't get out of the 'fade'?" it looked up at Hale slowly, the remarkable eyes filled with grief and a dark foreboding.

"_Then the world is doomed."_

**Sorry about this chapter, it was shittastic and rushed.**

**Truth be told, I need a bit of a creative break from this story, 'cause if I spend too long on something like this, things get crappy.**

**So, I thought it would be fun to whore myself out a little bit and maybe take some requests? One shots only though, hopefully with Doccubus involved so I at least stay consistent. I'll do anything (insert inappropriate hooker comment here) in any genre (lemony, romantic, holidayish, dark, whatever) I just need freedom.**

**Just think about it. **

_**All I want for Christmas is yooooouuuuuuuuu**_**r reviews.**

**That Mariah Carrey is one sneaky bastard, ain't she?**


	15. Epilogue: Message to the Morigan

Morigan,

I know I haven't been reporting as often as you would expect me to, I don't want you to think I'm being ungrateful for you naming me as Commanding Officer of the Dark Fae army. There's just been other pressing matters I've had to attend to. Some of which are more…unnerving than others.

Forgive me if this is disjointed, I haven't had time to sleep in the past forty hours, my thoughts are a little sporadic at the moment.

What happened to Bo in the Fade four months ago wasn't something anyone could've seen coming. Her condition hasn't improved since we got her out, though her personality traits still seem mostly intact. That Ryan idiot has been following her around like a lost puppy, which is unusual, even for a player like him.

But Bo isn't the reason I've contacted you now. Doctor Lauren Lewis is.

Or, should I say Harbinger.

The events of the Fade were catastrophic. Even then I didn't think _this_ could happen.

After a few months of digging, I've discovered something; something that changes everything.

As it would seem, Harbinger is an entity which is from the same place as those whom are threatening us, the beings older than the Fae. However, Harbinger is unique. It needs a Fae or human host in order to take hold of a physical presence. Harbinger is also only able to enter the physical world when there is the birth of a champion during a dire time in the world around us. Its role is to assist and protect the Champion until its host's last breath, at which point it will return back to the Fade and await its next mission.

This matter, however, is more complicated.

Lauren chose to take Bo as her mate. Never minding the disregard for fae protocol, this seems to provide a more devastating impact.

After the ritual (which I am forever grateful you decided to over look), Lauren became part manticore. When manticore take a mate, it's a life time deal. Like shifters, once they choose to love someone and spend their many centuries with them, there is no replacement. Should the mate die, the living partner will never move on. They will spend their lifetime alone, raising the cubs if there were any. Lauren seems to have adapted to this as part of the genetic fusing.

When Lauren and Dyson got Bo out of the Fade, as you saw, Bo was completely disorientated. She seemed to have lost the memories of her friends and adoptive family, even her name. Worst of all, when her eyes were turned onto the Doctor, she completely lost it and began screaming.

My theory is that Harbinger possess such incredible power because it needs to be able to control the Champion if need be. But now, now that it has lost its Champion, it's lost it purpose. Just as Lauren has.

That's what started it all, Morigan. That's why the death rate of both light and dark fae have suddenly skyrocketed. Grieving her mate, Lauren's personality has taken a darkened dive, forcing her to wallow in depression and her yearning for vengeance, retribution. Harbinger's aura, if you will, is greatly influenced by its host's emotional state. In other words, if Lauren gets mad, Harbinger gets mad. If Lauren's happy, Harbinger's happy. Had Bo's mental state not been so compromised, this may never have happened. Harbinger may have not turned into what it did.

Bo was _the _reason Doctor Lewis could keep herself in check. Keep her from losing herself. With recent events, there can only be one question remaining.

What's keeping them in check now?

I'll report in again within the next 24 hours.

May the stars watch over us.

-Colonel Amelia Grayson.

**Well, hey!**

**I hadn't intended to end this story here, but there you go. The third installment will be coming shortly. Just felt bad for leaving you guys so long that I decided to throw another cliffhanger at you and leave you there for a little while longer. There's other stories that need some TLC from me. But don't worry, I shall be back. Keep an eye out for the next story, I don't know what I'll call it yet, but you know...**


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